172 AGRICULTURE. 



of the pollen will cling to other parts of the bee, and so, when 

 it goes from one flower to another, it frequently carries this 

 pollen to blossoms that have none of their own or that cannot 

 use what they do have. The bees (and other insects also) in 

 this way help to make plants fruitful, to fertilize them as we say. 

 But there is another part of the bee that we shall find out be- 

 fore we desire to do so if we anger or disturb it, namely, the 

 sting. It is found in the rear end of the abdomen, and con- 

 sists of two long sharp lances. It can be pushed into one's 

 hand but cannot easily be drawn out. When the bee cuts into the 

 flesh it throws into the cut a drop of poison through the lances 

 with which it pierces. It leaves the sting in our flesh, 

 causes us pain because of the poison, and itself soon dies. We 

 may then conclude that bees will not readily sting, but do so 

 simply when disturbed and as a last resort in self-defence. 



THE HIVE. We go to the hive and there we find perhaps 

 20,000 of these honey gatherers, or "workers" as they are 

 called. Inside, if we can look through a glass side, we see one 

 larger bee surrounded by a dozen or so of the others. This is 



Fig. 82. Drone. Queen. Worker. 



the Queen or mother bee, whose duty it is to lay eggs. There 

 is only one Queen. After once settling down as the mother 

 of the hive she never goes out except when "swarming,'' 

 but day after day lays eggs, as many as 2,000 in a single 

 day. Then we observe some others that do no work, so far as 

 we can see, they are the " drones." The family or swarm then 

 will consist of one Queen bee, 20,000 or more workers, and 



