THOUSAND ANSWERS 5 



Age of Bees. — Q. What is the average life of a queen, drone, 

 and worker bee? 



A. A queen, perhaps 2 years; a worker, 6 weeks in the work- 

 ing season ; a drone, until the workers drive it out. 



Q. I have heard a great many say, bees live only 30 days. 

 What do you think about it? 



A. Worker-bees live several months if born late in the sea- 

 son; for they live over winter and until new ones are ready to 

 take their place in the spring. Those that are born after the 

 busy season begins in the summer, live -S or 6 weeks. 



Albinos. — Q. In my bee-book I did not find anything stating 

 the difference between an albino and another race of bees. Is 

 there anything peculiar about albinos? 



A. Albinos among bees are somewhat like albinos of the 

 human race or other animals; there is a deficiency of coloring 

 pigment. This is accompanied by weakness in other respects; 

 although some have reported albino bees that were good. I have 

 seen nothing about albinos for several years, and don't know 

 where you could find them. 



Alfalfa. — Q. Does alfalfa yield honey in the east? I have 

 seen it stated several times in prominent farm journals that al- 

 falfa gives no nectar in the east. 



A. I think the rule is that east of the Mississippi River alfalfa 

 never yields any nectar to speak of. Alfalfa grows finely on my 

 place, and occasionally I have seen a few bees on the blossoms, 

 but never to amount to anything, and I think this is generally 

 so east of the Mississippi. Seems to me, however, that a more 

 favorable report has been made by some one in Wisconsin or 

 New York. 



Q. What is the flavor of alfalfa honey? 



A. Alfalfa honey is of very mild flavor, milder than clover. 



Alley Method. — Q. Where could I get Alley's book on queen- 

 rearing? 



A. It is out of print, but you will find the Alley queen-rearing 

 method in "The Hive and Honey Bee,'' latest edition. 



Ants. — Q. I have six colonies of bees. The smaller ones are 

 bothered with large, black ants. Is there any way of stopping 

 them? 



A. Ants annoy the bee-keeper rather than the bees. It is 

 decidedly annoying to have them crawling over the hands and 



