THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
are said by some to be gentler to handle. They are 
at least better housekeepers in the way of debarring 
moths, while they cap their combs more perfectly. 
The Carnoleans, and Cyprians or Syrians complete 
the list of our domestic bees, and they have the best 
honey record. They are harmless when not mo- 
lested, but act like hornets when disturbed at their 
homes. What we still need is a longer-tongued 
bee, able to extract honey from red clover and 
from flowers that the ordinary bee cannot probe. 
Besides the honey bee we have five thousand vari- 
eties of bees, including bumble bees, carpenter 
bees, burrowing bees, cuckoo bees, and potter bees 
—all of them useful, although some of them do 
more or less mischief as well. The bumble bee 
does us no harm, and is especially valuable for 
cross-fertilizing clover. Among all of the bees not 
one is more interesting than the hornet. I have 
elsewhere spoken of his service in destroying the 
aphide. The queen alone lives through the win- 
ter, by crawling into some warm corner, possibly 
into your garret. In the spring she begins to make 
paper, and starts a house. The first eggs produce 
a brood of small workers that aid in house build- 
ing; the next brood is of larger workers, and in the 
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