THB HOKET-BBE. 23 



generally followed pursuit, and those who were familiar 

 with his line of thought, will remember the enthusiasm 

 with which he always encouraged its adoption as a means 

 of increasing the revenues of the country, and at the 

 same time, saving a product that was annually going to 

 waste. 



If this work shall, in any degree, carry out his wishes 

 in performing this office, I shall feel amply repaid for the 

 embarrassments under which I have labored, not only 

 in the consciousness of having fulfilled a duty to him to 

 whom I have been under so many obligations, but in the 

 gratification of having, ever so slightly, advanced a call- 

 ing that is not only honorable and lucrative, but elevat- 

 ing and ennobling. 



CHAPTEK I. 

 THE HONEY-BEE. 



SIMPLE FACTS IK ITS NATURAL HISTORY, 



In its natural state, a colony of bees consists of a 

 queen, several thousand workers and, during a part of 

 the year, a few hundred drones. 



THE QUEEK. 



The Queen is the mother of the entire colony. Her 

 only duty seems to be to lay eggs, of which she sometimes 

 deposits two thousand in twenty-four hours. In shape 

 (fig. 1), she resembles the worker more than the drone, 

 but is longer than either, and, like the worker, possesses 

 a sting, but seldom uses it, gxcept in combat with a rival 

 queen. Her color upon the upper side is darker than 

 that of the others ; the two posterior legs and under-side 

 are of a bright copper color. In some queens a yellow 



