100 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
been working 1 with a considerable number of a 
form of Ileddon Hive (made by the Beekeepers’ 
Supply Company) during the past season. For 
the benefit of our readers we give questions and 
answers as they have been sent to us : — 
How many Heddon Hives 
have you in use this sea- 
son? 
Do you find much bridge j A little in some, 
comb built between the > others none at 
brood chamber? ) all. 
Do you find that the queen j Does not readily 
readily occupies both / occupy both, but 
brood chambers and( when she does 
travels from one to an- / > keeps them pretty 
other, and keeps all parts \ well filled, 
filled with eggs ? 
Do you think the centre | 
post in the frame any 
hindrance to the queen 
moving over the comb, \ 
so as to prevent her keep 
ing both sides filled with 
brood ? 
How many section boxes 
will the bees occupy and 
work well at one time ? > 
How high have you 
tiered up ? 
/ 
Have you worked your 
hives with combs in line 
in the brood nest, over 
each other, or crossed the 
spaces of the bottom 
frames with the bottom 
bars of the top hive. 
A slight hindrance, 
for I have had 
one-half of the 
frames filled with 
brood, the other 
half with honey. 
If they were a 
little narrower I 
think would be no 
hindrance. 
Two crates of sec 
tions after they 
are fail ly started. 
Have tiered up 
to three crates of 
sections ; but 
found it more ad- 
vantageous to 
only work two, 
as I would get 
more properly 
filled that way. 
Have worked them 
both ways, but 
have abandoned 
crossing the spaces 
as I consider it 
prevents the queen 
from going from 
one to the other. 
(Signed) 
April 14, 1889. 
J. WITHERS. 
Jltirtrfrn Hn: Hbqrittg. 
A HANDBOOK FOR COTTAGERS. 
The above is t.he title of a capital little book 
published for the. British Bee Keepers' Association, 
and sold at 6d. per copy. As a very large num- 
ber of beekeepers in Australia know but little of 
the modern methods of beekeeping or of the 
modern hives, and also as many are desirous of 
knowing, we propose to reproduce this little hand- 
book in the pages of this journal for the benefit of 
this class of beekeepers, and also for beginners. 
We regret we cannot reproduce the little wood- 
cuts which are in the handbook, and which, no 
doubt, would be of considerable aid to the reader. 
The descriptions and directions are, however, so 
clear and simple that the absence of the few 
illustrations will not be found a matter of great 
importance. The first part of the book is given 
below, and it will be continued in the following 
numbers of the Journal : — 
I. — Natural History of Honey Bees. 
A hive of bees consists of queen, workers, and, 
in the swarming season, of drones also. The 
queen is the mother bee, as she alone, except in 
very rare cases, lays all the eggs from which the 
inhabitants of the hive are produced. Her 
fertility is remarkable, as during spring and early 
summer she will often deposit from two to three 
thousand eggs daily for weeks in succession. The 
workers — so called because by them, amidst many 
other duties, the comb is built, the honey gathered, 
and the grubs fed — are barren females ; but 
occasionally, when the hive has lost its queen, a 
worker will become so far fertile as to lay eggs, 
but these always produce drones. The drones 
are the males, and are produced at the approach 
of the swarming season, for mating with the 
young queens, and continuing the race. They 
gather no honey, and are driven from the hive by 
the workers when their services are no longer 
required. 
Honey-comb consists of six-sided cells, and is 
made of wax, which is not gathered, but pro- 
duced from honey in the body of the bee. Five 
of the smaller cells are together just one inch 
across, and in these honey and pollen are stored, 
and worker-bees produced. The larger cells, four 
to the inch, are the cradles for drones ; while the 
queen-cells in which queens are raised, are not 
unlike acorns in shape, and hang with their mouth 
downwards, while other cells open sideways. 
The eggs, kept warm by the bees, produce tiny 
white grubs, which hatch out at the end of three- 
days, and are fed upon a partially digested mixture 
of honey pollen, and water. The worker-grubs, 
in from five to six days, are fully grown, and are 
then covered in (sealed over) by a brownish cap 
of wax and pollen mixed. Twelve days more are 
required to convert the large white grub into a 
perfect bee, which, on the twenty-first day after 
the egg from which it came was laid, eats away 
the sealing which imprisoned it. Drones pass 
through like changes ; but require twenty-five 
days to complete them. Sealed drones may be 
known by the size of the cells and the projection 
of the rounded sealed covers. 
Bees can raise queens from any worker eggs, or 
grubs, if the latter are not more than three days 
old ; the only apparent means being, forming a 
larger cell round the young grub and giving food 
in greater abundance. Although the queen is 
more fully developed than the worker, she arrives 
at maturity in five days less time ; and it is well 
to remember that she hatches out eight days after 
being sealed in. 
The length of a worker’s life depends upon the 
labour it performs ; during the hard work of 
summer it does not exceed two months, but bees 
