hi-i'-kcc p'mg ill V'K'toria. 



115 



tion, instead of a comb-guide or narrow strip of embossed wax, are due to 

 three factors : — i. A stronger force of worker bees and very few drones. 



2. The faster building of tlie combs for brood and tlie storage of iioney. 



3, Stronger and straigiiter combs. 



I. Stronger Cvlonies. 

 By the use of full sheets of comb-foundation, the number of worker 

 'bees is greatly increased, and the number of drones reduced to a minimum, 

 and as the former are producers and the latter consumers only, the profits 

 of bee-keeping depend to a \ery large extent upon the ratio of worker bees 

 to drones, and this is best regulated by the prevention of the building of 

 •drone-comb. The combs built by bees consist of two kinds of cells, one 

 1-5 inch in diameter, and known as worker cells, the other -} inch, called 

 drone cells, the former being the cradle of the worker l)ee, the latter that of 

 the drone. 



In a state of nature a large percentage of the comb consists of drone 

 cells, and immense numbers of drones are raised, a provision of nature to 

 insure the fertilization of the queen from one hive by a drone from another 



Fig. 1. — Comi) Built from Starter, Nearly all Drone Cells. 



•colony, which, when bees are in their wild state, is often a considerable 

 distance away. In the meeting of the sexes, which always takes place in 

 the air often a considerable distance from the hives, a further safeguard 

 against inbreeding is the aversion of the young queen to drones which come 

 from her own hive, and iiave the same family odour. When a number of 

 colonies occur close together, as in an apairy, the necessity of large numbers 

 ■of drones ceases, as a limited number are ahvays raised in each hive. Not- 

 withstanding all efforts to suppress their production, the aggregate number 

 is quite sufficient under the conditions of closer proximity of colonies. 



A sheet of foundation is embossed with the pattern of worker comb, 

 25 cells to the square inch, and as the inside dimensions of a standard 

 frame are 17 inches by 8 inches, there are 3,400 cells on each sire, a total 



• of 6,800. ^Making a liberal allowance of cells for the storage of honey 

 and pollen around the brood, a comb of all worker cells produces fully 

 4,500 worker bees (i lb. live weight) in one generation, while the same 



• comb, but composed of drone cells, would, with the same allowance for 



