7 
sting nothing but rival queens. They sometimes 
live three or four years. Depositing eggs in the 
cells is all they seem to do in the economy of the 
hive, and in this they manifest great industry and 
sagacity, often producing, when conditions are fa¬ 
vorable, thousands of eggs in a single day, arrang¬ 
ing them in the combs in the most economic and 
systematic order. The workers during summer 
generally commence flying on the seventh day after 
hatching, and gathering polen and honey on the nine¬ 
teenth, being forty days from the time the eggs were 
laid. Within forty days more they are gone. They 
live longer in winter because they do not wear out 
their wings, and are less exposed to accidents. 
In form of government the bees are republican, 
each one laboring for the benefit of the whole colo¬ 
ny, and for posterity, building combs and storing 
honey for succeeding generations. It a colony be 
reduced to the starving point each bee will divide 
with the others until all perish together. They 
are industrious, frugal and economical, and untir¬ 
ing in their devotion to the welfare of their colony. 
They have no political or religious dissensions, 
but Seemingly strive to live in harmony with the 
laws of nature most conducive to their welfare. 
Useful lessons may be learned from the little honey 
bee by him who claims to be the highest type of 
animated nature, and the noblest work of God. 
There are several varieties of honey bees, of 
which the Italian is perhaps the most profitable 
They are more beautiful than the common black 
bees, and appear to be more hardy and productive, 
and to collect honey from sources that other bees do 
not. Such is the testimony of many beekeepers, 
and is confirmed by my own observations, having 
