ae 
and black bees surpass all others in the number of colonies. It is a 
rather difficult matter to keep the strain pure if you have neighbors 
within three or four miles of you who keep a different variety of bees. 
Thus it is that the great number of hybrid colonies have resulted. 
The table referred to is con- 
clusive as to the bees which 
should be kept in this State. 
It might be well to say that 
Italian bees have varieties 
known as the three-banded, 
the five-banded, and the gol- 
den. Of these the three- 
or five-banded have given 
best results. 
The beginner 
The Queen in beekeeping 
should by all 
means secure a good queen. 
The life of a queen is from 
three to five years, and at 
the end of this time a new Fig 6—A anp B. Front AND BACK PAIR OF 
one should be introduced in- Wrncs or Honey BEE 
to the eee Paget! of the 
apiaries of the State are 
gradually dwindling simply D, EvELETs a Front WING 
because the queens have (After Cheshire) 
passed their period of usefulness. The function of the queen is to lay 
fertile and infertile eggs. From the fertile come workers or queens, 
according to the food which the young receive. From the infertile 
come the drones. A desirable queen 
will lay from 2,000 to 4,000 eggs 
during a period of 24 hours. In the 
selection of a queen one should 
have the advice of an experienced 
beekeeper or deal with a strictly 
reliable queen breeder. After a 
fertile egg has been in the cell 3 
days it hatches into a very small, 
grub-like larva. If a queen is to be 
developed this larva is given special 
attention by the young worker 
bees. It is fed a “royal jelly.” As 
the larva grows the cell is enlarg- 
ed and is usually in the form of a 
cone-like tubercle. The grub life 
of the queen bee is completed in 
5% days, after which it is carefully 
sealed by the bees to protect it 
from the queen which is already in 
the hive. During the 7 days the 
bee changes and becomes similar 
to the adult and begins to chew off 
the covering. About this time, if 
the old queen of the hive does not 
decide to swarm, taking with her 
most of the old bees, the newly emerged queen has to gain her posses- 
sion of the hive by a duel with the old queen. It will be noticed that 
the queen will develop in 15 or 16 days. If the old queen leaves the 
C. Hooxs of Back WING 
Fic. 5—Tue Dicestive System oF 
tHE Honey Bes, SHOWING 
Honey Sac 
