238 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



hand, these little swarms can make no surplus honey, 

 the chief reason for which bees are kept, and they will 

 not be likely to "swarm," which is an interesting thing, 

 an advantage or disadvantage according to taste. In the 

 large hive the queen will be busy laying eggs in the inner 

 frames and may not be seen from one year to another, 

 honey being stored usually in the combs next to the 

 glass. This is a disadvantage ; still it is only in such a 



Fig. ioo. Sectional Plan of Observation Hive 



The size depends on size of brood frame. The bee space should be ^ in. below, 

 § in. at ends, and ^ in. above 



large hive that we can see the life of a bee-city in its full- 

 ness, — the thousands of workers, the continuous streams 

 of out-going and in-coming bees, — and thus gain some 

 conception of the great work they perform. 



The honeybee is not native to this continent. It was imported 

 from Europe, when or by whom is not known, and has since spread 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Since about i860 the United States 

 Department of Agriculture has been engaged in searching over the 

 greater part of the globe to find and introduce the best races of bees 



