THE FARMER AT HOME. 37 



should be two queens, they fight till one has killed the other. The 

 qneen is an object of incessant solicitude and attention to the other 

 bees ; she lays eighty thousand eggs in a season ; the drones do noth- 

 ing, but after living three months they are killed by the workers. 

 These collect honey and wax from the nectaria of flowers, bread 

 from the pollen, and resin for their combs. - 



Queen. Worker. Dxone. 



Bees finish a comb in a short time ; it is composed of six-sided 

 cells, arranged in two layers with opposite openings, so constructed as 

 to afford the greatest space with the least material, and the whole is 

 geometrically perfect. It is a wonderful system ; and the workers 

 are so much engaged in their own industrious pursuits, that they 

 never attack or sting except when assaulted or endangered. An 

 admirable and very profitable system of preserving them, instead of 

 barbarously suffocating them with sulphur, has lately been introduced, 

 and cannot be too much commended and encouraged. 



BEEF. Of all kinds of animal food used, it is believed there is 

 none finer flavored, more easily digested, or more nutritious than beef; 

 certainly there is none more universally used as an article of human 

 sustenance. To have beef in perfection, it is necessary that the animal 

 should be well fed, and, if salted, that the pickle should be carefully 

 made, containing salt enough to harden the lean to the color of maho- 

 gany. Dried beef, properly prepared, is an excellent article, and one 

 which should be found among the stores of every farmer. In the tropi- 

 cal regions beef is preserved by being cut, as soon as killed, into thin 

 slices, and thoroughly dried in the sun. Such beef, in the language 

 of the country, is called jerked beef. In some parts of the world, particu- 

 larly in Abyssinia, beef is eaten raw. At a feast, the animal is tied to 

 the door post, and the flesh is cut from the living beast, being served to 

 the guests, the muscles still quivering with life, and the more distinct 

 this action, the more highly is the flesh esteemed. 



BEER. A liquor produced by brewing together malt, hops, and 

 water, and when properly made, is a nourishing and wholesome 

 drink. Beer is, however, like most of the other liquors of commerce 

 and trade, adulterated to a great extent, by the introduction of ingre- 

 dients of a cheaper nature than malt or hops, if not absolutely poison- 

 ous in their effects upon the system. The quantity of beer consumed 

 by the English laborers is incredible, especially during harvest, when 



