A SELF-SUPPORTING HOME 



on the day following, she will take what is 

 called the nuptial flight, meet some drone in 

 midair, and return some hours later to be- 

 come sole mother of the hive, and to be so 

 treasured by the colony that they feed her 

 on royal jelly all her life, wash and tend her 

 with the most jealous care. During every 

 twenty-four hours of a good season, when 

 honey and pollen are plentiful, a queen lays 

 from two thousand five hundred to four 

 thousand eggs. 



The drones, as the name implies, are lazy 

 fellows, not even earning their own living, 

 and are tolerated by the busy workers only 

 during the summer of plenty, being ruth- 

 lessly killed at the first approach of scarcity. 



Our apiary started with two hives and 

 their dormant occupants, bought at an auc- 

 tion for $3. Of course it was rather a 

 reckless investment, because neither the 

 auctioneer nor I knew anything about bees; 

 therefore the contents of the hives was a pro- 

 found secret. The price being so ridicu- 



94 



