A 
A B C OF BEEKEEPING. —In this 
preliminary article it will be assumed that 
the reader knows nothing about bees or 
beekeeping except that “they sting, and 
are ready to sting anywhere at any time 
any one who approaches within a hundred 
yards of their hive.” By reading this ar¬ 
ticle and the one on Stings it will be seen 
that nothing could be further from the 
truth. 
. At the very outset it is important that 
a general bird’s-eye view be taken of the 
whole industry; and to do this it will be 
necessary to make a brief summary of the 
contents of this work. The reader, hav¬ 
ing a comprehensive view of the business, 
the ways and means and wherefores, will 
then be able to take up specifically a course 
of reading as suggested at the close of the 
Foi’eword. 
There are two different kinds of bees— 
solitary bees (see Solitary Bees) and so¬ 
cial bees, those that live in colonies or 
communities. There are many species of 
both kinds; but for the purpose of this 
work we shall concern ourselves with the 
social bees and mainly the species known 
as Apis melliftca, or “honey-makers.” 
same organs in the only true female, known 
as the “queen.” See Pollen. 
A colony of bees may contain anywhere 
from 25,000 to 75,000 individuals, and in 
rare cases as high as 100,000,_ all the daugh¬ 
ters of one queen bee. But the average 
good colony for producing honey will run 
anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000 workers. 
During the winter this number will be 
reduced less than half; for Nature appar¬ 
ently goes on the assumption that it is wise 
not to produce a lot of unnecessary con¬ 
sumers for winter. 
The duties of the worker bees are quite 
varied. Primarily their business is to gath¬ 
er nectar or sucrose, and by some chemi¬ 
cal process, which no one seems to under¬ 
stand fully, change it into invert sugar or 
honey. Since they gather nectar and make 
it over into honey, it is scientifically ac¬ 
curate to say that bees “make honey.” 
Bees also gather pollen from the flowers, 
and store it in combs the same as they 
store honey. The pollen and honey are 
used for making a milky-white nitrogenous 
food to feed the larvse of baby bees. This 
food is very much like thin condensed 
milk. As the larvas develop, this same food 
Queen, drone and worker bee in order from left to right. 
There are three classes of individuals in 
each colony—namely, the queen bee or true 
female, t.lje drones, and the workers, or 
neuter bees as some call them, but more 
correctly undeveloped females. Each work¬ 
er bee is functionally the same as the queen 
bee except that her tongue, mouth parts, 
pollen-gathering bristles on the legs, and 
the sting are more fully developed than the 
or “pap” is made richer and stronger. 
See Development of Bees. 
Bees also gather a kind of glue for mak¬ 
ing up what is called bee glue, or propolis. 
This is used to seal up all cracks that might 
let cold air into the hive. The word “pro¬ 
polis” is derived from two Greek words— 
pro, meaning in front, and polis, a city. In 
ancient times, especially with some strains 
