WHY KEEP BEES 17 



eggs which will hatch into either worker 

 bees, drones or queens. How does she do 

 it? How does the bee know its own hive 

 when it returns from a flight many miles 

 in extent 1 Why do bees sting more read- 

 ily on certain days than on others? Do 

 the drones sting and if not, why not? 

 Why does a hive *' swarm"? And how 

 does it swarm? Where does the swarm 

 go? Some of these questions have never 

 been satisfactorily answered by any one. 

 Others we can answer by using our eyes 

 and ears when our own bees are in action, 

 and working out problems for ourselves is 

 one of the real joys of life. 



To help you answer some of these ques- 

 tions for yourself, and to suggest others 

 to you, will be one of the objects of this 

 book. 



Before I leave this chapter, however, I 

 want to say just a word about where bees 

 may be kept. I mean where they may be 

 kept with a reasonable chance of produc- 

 ing a surplus of honey for their owner. 



