BEES ON THE FAKM 



389 



in summer, but it is preferable that they get sunshine early in 

 the morning. 



Equipment. — It does not pay to keep bees in boxes or hollow 

 logs C^gmns"), nor in hives in which the frames are immov- 

 able. The ten-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive is standard for 

 America and by its use the 

 beekeeper can help the bees 

 to do their work better. All 

 parts of the hives should 

 be interchangeable and ac- 

 curately cut. Additional 

 equipment Avill depend on 

 the kind of honey produced. 

 For comb-honey there 

 should be at least three 

 shallow supers for each 

 hive and more will usually 

 be needed if the bees are 

 properly kept. For ex- 

 tracted honey three full 

 depth supers should be pro- 

 vided for each colony. A veil should cover the face when the 

 bees are handled and a good smoker will subdue them. All 

 necessary equipment can be obtained from the numerous dealers 

 in supplies and every beekeeper should have a supply catalog. 



Unless one is an expert 



Bee vt'il with silk-tullc front. 



woodworker it 

 pay to make 



Fig. 100. — Knives for uncapping honey. 



does not 

 hives at 

 home. 

 Behavior of the bees. — 



The most important part 

 of the beekeeper's equip- 

 This can come only through 



ment is his knowledge of the bees, 

 study of the extensive literature on beekeeping, supplemented 

 by observations on the bees themselves. It is impossible in the 

 short space of this article to go deeply into this subject. 



There are three kinds of bees in the colony: (1) The queen 

 whose function it is to lay the eggs for the colony, sometimes 

 as many as 3,500 a day, but who is in no sense the director of 

 the colony activity; (2) the thousands of worker bees, sexually 

 undeveloped females, which do the inside and outside work of 

 the colony, and (3) the drones or males which mate vnth the 



