HONEY-BEES. 



Honey-bees are necessary and profitable insects, and possess many inter- 

 esting and beautiful traits to be studied and learned. Their nature, habits, 

 and field of work furnish a broad and interesting field of thought for those 

 who love nature-study. 



Their culture gives to man perhaps the most fascinating and healthiest 

 pursuit known. The more any one studies them and works among them, the 

 deeper his interest will grow in their culture, and the more interesting it 

 will be, for he is not likely to give up bee-keeping entirely if he does not 

 embark upon it too extensively. 



The roar of the honey-bee over our heads as they prey upon the blos- 

 som of certain trees in the forest is inspiring; and to watch the little 

 stream of bees as they pour in and out of the hive is interesting, as it fur- 

 nishes us inspiration. I have often seen very old people sit in the shade about 

 the apiary and watch the bees as they passed to and fro. It furnished them 

 an inspiration, and interested them when nothing else could. 



TKen to remove the cover of the hive and see what their little masterly 

 hands have accomplished is simply wonderful; and the observant person can 

 not help sympathizing with them in the undertaking and accomplishing of the 

 great tasks, and, at the same time, reflect back to the creation and Creator 

 of all things. 



The honey-bee's nature, habits, source, and manner of living, and its 

 mission in the world, prove it to be the most marvelous insect of all the 

 insect world. 



Truly the honey-bee is worthy of the title "the most industrious of all 

 living objects." 



It is often said that bees work for nothing and board themselves. I do 

 not know whether this is a true saying or not ; but I will say it is true where 

 they receive no attention or culture. 



A normal colony of bees is composed of three kinds of bees — a queen, 

 the workers, and the drones. 



We will first consider the queen from the time she is hatched until she 

 has an army of her own bees around her. Worker bees can develop a queen- 

 bee from a fertile egg of any queen. A .fertile queen is one which has 

 encountered a drone-bee (the male bee), and will lay two kinds of eggs- 

 fertile and unfertile. The fertile eggs will produce workers or queen-bees. 

 The unfertile eggs will produce only drones. Just how it is that a queen-bee 

 laying fertile eggs can all at once stop laying them and go to laying unfer- 



