24 HAlfDY BOOK OF BEES. 



outdoor exercise would -weaken her constitution and 

 shorten her days, considering the fact that her indoor life 

 is one of toil and drudgery. The story of the eunuch, 

 and the woman with the beard, and the loud crow of the 

 hen, is very beautiful, and indicates great breadth and 

 ingenuity ; but who will admit that it touches the differ- 

 ence between nine months and four years 1 The eunuch, 

 the woman, and the crowing hen may live as long as any 

 of their kind ; but a queen bee lives six times longer than 

 a worker, and yet she is said to be a perfect female, and 

 a worker an imperfect one. To my mind they are both 

 perfect, but very different, bees. 



Mr Woodbury says, — " An ample population, abundant 

 food, and the presence of drone-ceUs, generally dispose a 

 queen to lay drone-eggs." We should say, these dispose 

 the bees to set eggs in dione-ceUs, and administer their 

 appropriate food. 



But this long and tedious discussion will not help us 



much in our search for the most profitable mode of bee 



management. Let us conclude in the language of Mr 



, Quinby — viz., " We are inchned to think that the eggs of 



a queen bee are all aEke, but are not fully satisfied." 



