mon house-fly, and are blue-black in 

 color, with the exception of the an- 

 terior third of the abdomen, which is 

 brig[ht orange. 



The giant East Indian honey-bee, 

 which is probably identical with the 

 giant of the Philippines, is the largest 

 known species of the genus. They are 

 about one-third larger than our com- 

 mon bee and build huge combs of very 

 pure wax which are attached to over- 

 hanging ledges of rock or to the limbs 

 of large trees. These combs are often 

 five or six feet in length, three or four 

 feet in width and from one and one-half 

 to six inches in thickness. The amount 

 of honey that they gather in the course 

 of a season is enormous and it has been 

 suggested that if introduced into this 

 country they might be of immense 

 value as they would doubtless visit 

 mainly the plants which our honey- 

 bees could not well gather from, such 

 as red-clover, and thus increase the 

 amount of clover seed as well as the 

 quantity of honey already produced. 

 Up to date, however, it is not proven 

 that they will live in hives or that they 

 can live at all in this climate; the latter 

 being regarded as extremely doubtful 

 by some of our best informed bee-men. 



Not the least interesting thing in an 

 apiary is the honey extractor, consist- 

 ing of a large can inside of which a 

 light metal basket is made to revolve 

 by means of a simple gearing. The 

 frames containing the full comb are 

 placed in this basket, the caps being 

 shaved off. After several rapid revo- 

 lutions the comb is found to be empty 

 and is then returned to the hives to be 

 refilled by the bees. 



The queen bee is about one-third 

 larger than the worker and is the mother 

 and monarch of the hive. Queens are 

 sometimes raised by bee-keepers for 

 sale, especially by those who have 

 an improved strain of a certain species, 

 or a new and desirable species of bee. 

 When the bee-keeper gets a mail order 

 for a queen he procures a mailing-cage, 

 which is a small box-like cage covered 

 with wire screen and cloth, in one end 

 of which he places a supply of food, the 

 other end being occupied by a ventila- 

 tor. The queen and from eight to 

 twelve workers, as roval attendants, are 



then placed in the cage, the wire-screen 

 and cloth covers carefully wrapped 

 around them, the address written, a one 

 cent stamp affixed and her royal 

 highness is ready for her trip across a 

 continent, or, with additional postage, 

 around the world. 



When, from any cause, the bee-pas- 

 tures become unproductive bees from 

 different hives often declare war on 

 ! their neighbors, the strong colonies 

 singling out as enemies those that are 

 weak or disorganized by the loss of a 

 queen. The war is always pursued 

 without quarter and thousands on each 

 side perish in the fray, the victors 

 always carrying off every drop of honey 

 in the hive of the vanquished, leaving 

 the unfortunate survivors of the de- 

 feated hive to perish by starvation. 



In many parts of England when a 

 member of the family dies someone 

 must tell the bees; this is done by tak- 

 ing the house door-key and rapping 

 thrice on each hive, repeating at the 

 same time the name of the deceased and 

 his station in the family. If this cere- 

 mony is omitted the bees will surely 

 die. In some places the hives are 

 draped with a strip of black cloth when 

 a death occurs in the family and with 

 white cloth in case of a wedding. If 

 these ceremonies are omitted the bees 

 are insulted and will leave. Singing a 

 psalm in front of a hive that is not do- 

 ing well will also set all things right, in 

 some parts of England. I will not 

 attempt to explain how the American 

 bee-keeper rears bees without these 

 ceremonies, but refer the reader to the 

 various hand-books on bee-keeping 

 which will doubtless explain it. 



The bees occupy a position in the 

 economy of natiire far higher than that 

 of mere honey-gatherers. The service 

 they render in poUenizing the flowers 

 is worth far more to the world than 

 endless stores of honey. There are a 

 number of flowers that are so adjusted 

 that their pollen cannot of itself reach 

 the stigma but is so disposed that it is 

 certain to be carried away by any bee 

 or moth that chances to visit it, while 

 the stigma is so placed that an incoming 

 bee is certain to reach it on first alight- 

 ing on the flower and dust it with the 

 pollen which has accumulated on the 



