40 A Modern Bee-Farm 



Providing pollen is at hand, breeding commences in all 

 good colonies soon after the " turn of days," but at first 

 the patches of brood are small, and limited to the very 

 heart of the cluster, to guard against chill. It is not by 

 any means to be supposed that henceforth young bees are 

 brought forth without intermission ; but it is a fact, 

 nevertheless, that a colony, failing through any cause, to 

 produce this early batch of youngsters, will stand in the 

 background all through the season, as presently the loss 

 of bee-life will be so great that a late hatching of young 

 ones cannot possibly keep pace with the deaths occasioned 

 by almost daily flights. On the other hand, two or 

 three generations of young bees brought to life before 

 general flights occur, give a colony so great an advantage 

 that no perceptible diminution occurs, and by the time 

 spring opens, the population has been almost entirely 

 renewed, so that henceforth the progress of that stock is 

 rapid. 



Presuming that the colony we have had under considera- 

 tion, has plenty of stores of both kinds, and a good queen 

 at its head, at the approach of May some of the large cells 

 have eggs deposited in them : these also hatch on the 

 third day, and the larvae then undergo much the same 

 process of change as does the worker, though each condi- 

 tion is more prolonged, and it is not until the 25th day that 

 the perfect insect begins to bite a way out from its cradle. 

 Nearly everj' one has heard of these burly fellows, but 

 people generally appear to consider that a drone is so 

 called simply because he will not work ; but the fact is he 

 cannot work, and has nothing in common with the 

 worker, the latter being a neuter and its whole organism 

 so constituted as to fit it for work alone, while the drone 

 is exactly the reverse, and being the male its sole occupa- 

 tion isthat of fertilising the young queens brought to life 



