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them, to save the swarm from destruction. It is always 
best to know the condition of the colony before attempt- 
ing to destroy them. If there should be quite a quan- 
tity of young brood in the hive at the time, and but 
few worker bees, it would expose the young brood too 
much to destroy all of them at once. They assist in 
keeping up the animal heat, and stick very closely to 
the combs, except in the middle of the day, when they 
fly out a few hours. Old queens lay more drone eggs 
than young ones ; therefore they should be destroyed 
and young ones substituted in their stead. All drone 
comb should be cut out in the spring to avoid rearing 
them ; then their places will be occupied by workers, 
which will be much better for the bees, and their owner. 
DESCRIPTION OF WORKER BEES. 
These constitute the majority of the population of 
the hive ; their duties are to gather honey, elaborate 
wax, make combs, gather the antheral dust from the 
flowers for bee-bread, collect propolis from the resinous 
trees and plants, with which they cement the interior 
of the hives, fill up the cracks and crevices to protect 
them from insects and excessive moisture ; to hatch 
and nurse the young ; to defend and protect their hive 
and stores. In truth they merit the title “ ivorlcer bees,” 
for they are models of industry indeed. They are 
developed from the egg in about twenty-one days, and 
are imperfect females, and live about one year at 
longest, depending upon circumstances. If hatched in 
the height of the honey season they are quite short- 
lived, on account of the excessive labor they are sub- 
ject to, many of them not lasting more than a month 
or two, and but few passing six months. 
