BENEFICIAL INSECTS 237 



that there are eggs in it from which the bees may rear a 

 queen, and this interesting process may then be observed 

 by the school from day to day, and it will be a red-letter 

 day when her royal highness comes out. 



A third form of school hive is a full-sized swarm in a 

 glass box. This can be made of one-inch pine for the 

 frame, with glass set in for ends and sides. The top 

 should be made of a similar, glazed frame just large 

 enough to cover a honey super. If this be narrower than 

 the top of the hive, it may be supplemented by narrow 

 strips of board. The whole stands, without fastening, 

 on a solid bottom board, which may be screwed to the 

 window sill in front and supported by a post at the back. 

 Otherwise its mounting, covering, and manipulation is in 

 every way like that of the smaller hives described above. ^ 



Each form of hive has some special feature to its 

 advantage. The small one requires little room and still 

 demonstrates the whole life of the hive. The single large 

 frame does this more perfectly, but may cost something. 

 The single-frame hives both possess the advantage that the 

 queen can always be found, and in the larger one young 

 bees may generally be seen gnawing their way out of their 

 cells, — two most interesting things to watch. Marked 

 bees may also be followed when they come in, and may be 

 seen distributing their load of nectar to the other bees or 

 kicking off their pollen balls into the cells. On the other 



1 Bees are greatly disturbed by any jarring of their hive, about as much 

 as human communities are by earthquakes. This is obviated by the quilt 

 coverings. For the large hive it is well to make these in square sections, 

 each large enough to cover a side or end, and with one longer strip which 

 can cover one side, and the top with three supers in place. 



