4S3 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



volumes have been written and published in this country alone 

 concerning them, and the half has not jot been told. We shall 

 aim .siniplv to give plain, practical directions, which all can un- 

 derstand for takino- care of bees so as to make them profitable. 

 Certain well established facts must be well understood before 

 .ludertaking Bee keeping. 



1. There are three kinds of bees in every prosperous hive, 

 viz., the queen, the drones, and the workers. 



2. The Queen Bee is the only perfect female in the hive. She 

 is the mother of all the others. No swarm can prosper without 

 a queen. She is readily distinguished from all the others by 

 her long bodj^-, short wings, and yellow abdomen. [See No. 6, 

 Fi<j. lll.-^) There are never two in a hive, as the reigning 

 queen destroys all others before they come out of their cells. 

 If the queen is lost, the industry of the hive is stopped until 

 preparations are completed for hatching another. The queen 

 leaves the hive when about seven days old to meet the male bee, 

 is impregnated, and never leaves the hive again, except with a 

 Kwann. Queens are the only bees that live more than (me 

 season ; they sometimes live three years. They are capable 

 of laying one hundred thousand or more eggs in a season, if 

 supplied with brood cells. They have an effective sting, but 

 never use it, except against each other. A queen goes out with 

 every swarm ; if by any accident she is lost in swarming, the 

 bees return to the hive. 



3. The Drone is the male bee. A large number are usually 



♦ NoTK. Description of Fig. m. i. Egg. 2. Position of egg and 

 larva in Iho cells. 3. Full grown worker larva. 4. AVorker nymph or 

 pnpa. 5. Drone, f.. Qleen. 7. Worker, c. Queen Cet.l. 9. Probe 

 scis or tongue of worker. ;0. Sling of worker. 11. Ovaries of Quoen. 

 12. Honey sac, intestines, and stomach of worker. It is exceedingly diffi- 

 call to make a good representation of comb on paper. 



