HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 



is more or less beneficial, as they doubtless 

 help to conserve the heat of the hive and in- 

 directly aid thereby in the development of the 

 brood. When flying to and from their hives 

 the drones are big noisy fellows, and one unac- 

 quainted with their history may be frightened 

 by their buzzing, but they are perfectly harm- 

 less and can be picked up and carried about, 

 as they have no stings with which to defend 

 themselves. 



It has not been definitely determined 

 whether in laying an infertile egg from which 

 springs the drone, the queen lays it through 

 choice, or is compelled to owing to the in- 

 creased size of the drone cell. The fact 

 remains, however, that in depositing the drone 

 egg, the enlarged size of the cell permits the 

 queen to spread her limbs farther apart, and 

 thus the egg slips out without coming in con- 

 tact with the fertilizing fluid as does the 

 worker egg in the case of the smaller cell, 

 which compels the queen to keep her limbs 

 closer together. 



52 



