28 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



nesses are their weaknesses. Any apiarist is likely 

 to have had two colonies side by side, perhaps each 

 equalling the other in amount of brood and number 

 of bees, and one may have produced five dollars' 

 worth of honey in a season, while the other did not 

 produce half of that; and the queens alone caused 

 this discrepancy. One produced energetic, capable 

 offspring, while the progeny of the other were un- 

 enterprising. The offspring of one were perhaps 

 sweet-tempered and obliging, and those of the other, 

 cross and cranky. Thus it is all-important to give 

 the colony a good mother. A queen, to be perfect, 

 should be well-bred, handsome and strong, and 

 capable of laying from two to three thousand eggs 

 per day during the height of the season, and espe- 

 cially should she have offspring possessing a kindly 

 disposition. 



The laying queen is a very graceful insect; her 

 body is long and pointed, and extends far behind 

 the tips of her closed wings. Svelte is a graphic 

 word applied to her figure by the Spectator; just a 

 glance at her reveals her splendid physical develop- 

 ment and proves her a queenlier bee than those that 

 gather around her. It is a sight that makes men feel 

 how very limited is their knowledge of any other 

 world than their own to see the queen bee, surrounded 

 by her ring of attendants, each with head toward her, 

 as if she were the centre of a many-rayed star. 



The development of the queen from the egg has 

 ever been a most interesting and, at the same time, a 

 most puzzling subject for investigation on the part of 



