BREEDING. 75 



bees. There the average time for queens to mature 

 from the egg is fourteen days, two days less than the 

 average here ; and about the same difference exists 

 with the workers and drones. 



QUANTITY OF EGGS LAID BY A QUEEN. 



The quantity of eggs laid by a fully developed 

 healthy queen, in a strong colony, with plenty of 

 honey, is truly astonishing to those unacquainted 

 with their habits ; the number is variously estimated 

 by authors at from 30,000 to 100,000 during the 

 season. This depends entirely upon the strength of 

 the colony in the spring, the climate or temperature 

 of the weather, the quantity of honey, and the mode 

 of managing the colony. 



During the past season I worked a number of 

 queens to their full capacity for producing eggs, in 

 strong colonies, by frequently changing combs from 

 which brood had just emerged in artificial swarms, 

 where the queen had not yet become fertile, for 

 combs stocked -with eggs and larva, giving them 

 empty combs for full ones; stimulating them con- 

 stantly by keeping them well supplied with food, 

 when honey abroad became scarce. I put two of 

 these combs, being about twelve inches wide by 

 fifteen or sixteen deep, into a strong colony, where 

 the queen was very prolific; over two-thirds of the 

 cells were empty when put in, and within four or 

 five days they were all stocked with eggs, except a 

 few that were stored with pollen. This was by no 

 means a single occurrence, but was repeated again 



