102 ON,E .TEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



ONE YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



By A. H. DUFF, Larned, Kan. 



PLAIN, SIMPLE, PRACTICAL AND ECONOMICAL METHODS OF HANDLING THEM FOR 

 PROFIT, ESPECIALLY INTENDED FOR THE BEGINNER. 



The first question may be asked, Who may keep bees, and where 

 may they be kept? Any one permanently located may keep bees, 

 whether he may be a farmer, lawyer, doctor, minister, or a member of 

 any other vocation, who may have a few spare minutes occasionally to 

 look after the wants of his bees. Bees may be kept successfully to 

 some extent almost anywhere, either in the city or country, and will 

 be found profitable if attention is given them in the right manner. 

 Some localities are better than others for bees, but there is scarcely 

 any locality that man can exist, that bees will not do likewise. A 

 few hives of bees may be kept, and require but little attention, that 

 will furnish all the honey necessary for family use, and at a very 

 slight expense. Bees work for nothing, and board themselves at the 

 same time, so that the principal requirement is a storehouse for them, 

 properly arranged to suit their habits. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A COLONY OF BEES. 



A fair working colony of bees consists of about 25,000 to 35,000 

 worker bees, a few hundred drones, and a queen. During springtime, 

 and until after the honey season, they attain their greatest number, 

 which may considerably exceed the above, after which time they gradu- 

 ally decrease until they reach their lowest number, during the winter 

 months. This may fall far below the above number. Ordinarily, 

 a colony of bees reaches its lowest number in March, and its highest 

 number in June. Drones are bred only during the honey or swarm- 

 ing season after which they are killed off by the worker bees. The 

 average life of the worker is about forty-five days, and the average life 

 of the queen about two years. 



There is but one queen in each colony and phe is the only fully 

 developed female in it. She is the mother of the entire colony, laying 

 all the eggs that produce every bee in the hive. Two kinds of eggs 

 are deposited by the queen, one kind being fertile and the other 

 infertile. Three kinds of bees are hatched from these eggs, the 

 fertile egg producing queens and worker bees, and the infertile egg, 

 drones. The fertility of the queen remains the same throughout her 

 life, never receiving fertilization but once ; hence, produces the same 

 stock during her existence. The queen has a sting, but seldom uses 



