new Queen is hatched out the old one gets very jealous and 
attempts to kill her rival. But the worker bees endeavor 
to save the life of the young Queen, and if they succeed the old 
Queen calls for her friends, announces her intention of leav¬ 
ing the old castle, and takes to flight. There is great ex¬ 
citement at such times. The bees are all in great haste, 
running to and fro about the hive as if crazy. The old 
Queen drops her eggs anywhere about the hive; she tries 
to kill the young bees trying to escape from their cells, but 
is firmly resisted by the workers. Soon the Queen makes 
for the door of the hive, and the bees after her. They fly 
with her in a cloud to a nearby tree and collect there in a 
“swarm.” They become quiet again and may be captured 
without much difficulty, or a few of the bees go off to select 
a place for a new nest, and the Queen accepts their choice. 
When she is in the new quarters the systematic work begins 
again. 
If bees are not killed or frozen to death, they are said to 
live two or three years, devoted to constant labor. A hive 
often produces from twelve to twenty pounds of honey each 
year. It has been accurately determined that bees usually 
gather their honey within a radius of two miles, though often 
they have been found four or five miles away from home. 
The rate of speed they make has been variously determined. 
One observer recorded that the wings of a bee made 190 
vibrations in a second, and that this number of wing strokes 
would carry the bee at the rate of one mile per minute. But 
another observer estimated, from the note of the sound made 
by the bee in flight, that over 400 vibrations of the wing 
would be necessary to produce it, and that this rate would 
carry the bee two miles per minute. It is evidently very 
difficult to make a correct calculation on these points. 
Now, we have considered a great many interesting facts 
about bees, but many more could be told. Perhaps you 
will have an opportunity of studying more about bees by 
watching them at their work in the flower or in the hive. 
SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER 
It should not be difficult to get a few worker bees in 
rural districts where bees are kept, and a comb with honey is 
as easily obtained. 
8 
