licf-kee piny in ]' ictmiti . 



11 



II.— The Bees. 



There are many terms used in connexion with bees which are liable 

 to cause misunderstanding when wronglv applied b\' the uninitiated. 

 Some of these words have a general as well as a specific meaning. An\ 

 community of bees may be called a colony, but in practice the terrr is 

 only applied to bees established in a dwelling provided bv man. Colonies 

 in trees, rocks, or other natural abodes are known as bees' nests. While 

 a hive of bees denotes a colony in an artificial dwelling the dwelling itself 

 without bees or combs is known as a bee hive. Communities of bees on 

 the wing, clustered outside away from the hive, or inside the hive without 

 combs, are called swarms. 



Every normal colony of bees in the acti\-e .season consists of three 

 classes of individuals, viz., the queen, a large number of workers, and a 

 variable number of drones. The queen is the mother of all the other 

 bees and the only fully-developed female. The workers are sexuallv un- 

 .developed females, and constitute the largest part of the colonv, numbering 

 from 40,000 to 70,000 in a strong colony in the height of the season. 



^/r--<r^ 



Worker Bee, Queen, and Drone of the Italian Bee. 



(lli^produced from A. I. Koot's A B C of Bee Culture.) 



On the average, it takes 4,500 worker bees to equal one pound in weight. 

 The drones, which are of larger size than the workers, are the males, and 

 their only use in the economy of the hive is to mate with the virgin queen. 

 Towards autumn, when they are no longer required, or at an\ time during 

 a scarcity of nectar, they are driven out of the hive bv the workers and 

 left to die of starvation, except in the case of a colony with an old or 

 failing queen, or a queenless stock. Both of these will retain their 

 drones and also admit those expelled from other hives — a provision of 

 Nature to enable the mating of the future young queen to take place. 



Life History. 



A knowledge of the life history of bees will assist any one to better 

 tmderstand what conditions are necessary to the highest welfare of the 

 colony and the maximum profit to the bee-keeper. While such knowledge 

 will not take the place of practical experience in the management of bees, 

 it will form a good basis for an understanding of the various mani- 

 pulations. 



