24 PLEA SVB ABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



The queen (Fig. 2) is the mother of all the bees in the 

 hive, and she has really only one duty to perform, viz., 

 that of egg-laying. From early in the season to some 

 time after the close of the honey-flow, a good queen 

 win be busy depositing eggs in the various cells, out 

 of which will proceed in due course a Queen, a Drone, 

 or a Worker. A very large amount of work is thus of 

 necessity the share of the queen bee, but the bee- 

 keeper, with a view to large returns, will endeavour, 

 by careful and systematic management, to regulate 

 the egg-laying of the queen in such a manner that the 



WORKEB 



Fig. 4. 



hive shall be full of bees at the commencement of the 

 honey-flow, and that, instead of ceasing to lay at the 

 close of the honey -flow, she shall continue her work 

 until about the middle of September, thus ensuring 

 the presence of a large proportion of young bees when 

 the stock is closed for the winter about the 1st of 

 October. 



The queen is produced in sixteen days from an egg 

 exactly similar to that from which a worker issues. In 

 order that a queen and not a worker may be produced, 

 the egg is deposited in an acorn-shaped cell, usually 

 built, on account of its size, on the bottom edges of 



