40 A Modern Bee-Farm 
Providing pollen is at hand, breeding commences in all 
good colonies soon after the “turn of days,” but at first 
the patches of brood are small, and limited to the very 
heart of the cluster, to guard against chill. It is not by 
any means to be supposed that henceforth young bees are 
brought forth without intermission; but it is a fact, 
nevertheless, that a colony, failing through any cause, to 
produce this early batch of youngsters, will stand in the 
background all through the season, as presently the loss 
of bee-life will be so great that a late hatching of young 
ones cannot possibly keep pace with the deaths occasioned 
by almost daily flights. On the other hand, two or . 
three generations of young bees brought to life before 
general flights occur, give a colony so great an advantage 
that no perceptible diminution occurs, and by the time 
spring opens, the population has been almost entirely 
renewed, so that henceforth the progress of that stock is 
rapid. 
Presuming that the colony we have had under considera- 
tion has plenty of stores of both kinds, and a good queen 
at its head, at the approach of May some of the large cells 
have eggs deposited in them: these also hatch on the 
third day, and the larve then undergo much the same 
process of change as does the worker, though each condition 
is more prolonged, and it is not until the 25th day that 
the perfect insect begins to bite a way out from its cradle. 
Nearly everyone has heard of these burly fellows, but 
people generally appear to consider that a drone is so 
called simply because he will not work; but the fact is he 
cannot work, and has nothing in common with the 
worker, the latter being a neuter and its whole organism 
so constituted as to fit it for work alone, while the drone is 
exactly the reverse, and being the male its sole occupation 
is that of fertilising the young queens brought to life during 
