22 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 



this chapter, will be more fully discussed iu different parts 

 of this -work, as appears to be called for, where proof 

 will be offered to sustain the positions here assumed, 

 which are as yet mere assertions. 



CHAPTER II. 



PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 

 IMPB3JFECTI.T UNDBKSTOOD. 



Comparatively few people have a very definite idea 

 of the time and manner of rearing brood. Many jjersons 

 who have kept bees for years have bestowed so little 

 attention upon this point that they are unable to tell 

 at what time they commence, how they progress, or 

 when they cease. They have an idea that one swarm, 

 and occasionally two or three, is reared sometime in 

 June, or the early part of summer, and this comprises their 

 whole knowledge of the subject. "Whether the drones 

 deposit the eggs, or some of the workers are females, and 

 each raises one or two, or the " king bee " is a common 

 parent of the eggs, is quite beyond their ability to decide. 

 It is hardly necessary to inform observing apiarians that 

 the queen is the mother of the whole fJimily. 



WHEK THET BEGIN TO REAK BROOD. 



The period at which she commences depositing eggs 

 probably depends on the strength of the colony, amount 

 of honey on hand, etc., and not upon the time when gath- 

 ering food begins. Strong colonies frequently begin to 

 rear brood by Christmas. When sweeping out the 

 litter under the hives as early as the first of March, young 

 bees may often be found under the best stocks. Observa- 



