588  Bee-keeping  Industry  of  America.  {Am'£v\i8sirm' 
utmost  safety.  Formerly  a  few  individuals  in  a  locality  were  regarded 
with  considerable  veneration,  owing  to  their  possession  of  asupposed  mys- 
terious influence  that  prevented  bees  from  stinging.  The  whole  art  of  bee 
taming  is  now  found  to  consist  in  the  fact  that  bees  will  not  sting  when 
filled  with  honey ;  that  to  get  them  to  fill  themselves  it  is  necessary  to 
frighten  them,  and  that  the  necessary  frightening  is  effected  by  puffing 
a  little  smoke  into  their  hives.  For  this  purpose  the  smoker,  which  is 
a  pointed  tin  funnel  filled  with  smouldering  rags  and  having  a  small 
bellows  attached,  forms  one  of  the  bee-keeper's  indispensable  tools  of 
trade.  The  handy  manner  in  which  the  bees  can  be  inspected  by 
puffing  a  little  smoke  into  the  hive,  and  then  lifting  out  any  section  of 
the  movable  combs,  enables  the  condition  of  the  colonies  to  be  con- 
stantly noted. 
The  first  step  on  the  part  of  new  beginners  in  bee-keeping  is  to  post 
themselves  in  the  interesting  study  of  bee  physiology  by  obtaining  one 
of  the  numerous  books  on  the  subject.  The  best  works  among  Amer- 
ican publications  are: — King's  "Bee-Keeper's  Text-Book,"  Lang- 
stroth's  "  Bee  Book/'  Quinby's  "  New  Bee-Keeping,"  Root's  "  A.  B. 
C.  of  Bee  Culture,"  and  Cook's  "  Bee-Keeper's  Guide."  A  prosperous 
hive  or  colony  of  bees  consists  of  a  fertile  queen,  a  few  hnndred  drones 
and  about  40,000  workers.  The  queen  is  the  prolific  parent  of  the 
whole  colony,  and  laying  eggs  is  the  sole  end  of  her  existence.  In  the 
height  of  the  honey  gathering  season,  and  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, the  queen  will  deposit  about  three  thousand  eggs  per  day. 
She  is  distinguished  from  the  other  bees  by  being  larger  and  having 
smaller  wings.  The  drones  are  bulkier  than  the  queens,  but  shorter, 
and  have  large  wTings,  but  are  destitute  of  a  sac  for  carrying  honey  and 
incapable  of  performing  the  duties  of  the  workers.  Their  business  is 
the  fertilization  of  the  queens,  and  as  impregnation  is  effected  while  on 
the  wing,  the  drones  leave  the  hives  in  considerable  numbers  about 
noon  on  fine  days,  and  are  followed  by  the  young  queens.  When  the 
service  of  fertilization  is  supposed  to  be  accomplished,  the  workers 
drive  out  the  drones  and  keep  them  out  till  they  die  of  starvation. 
One  of  the  many  advantages  of  working  the  movable  comb  hive  is 
that  all  excess  of  drone  comb  (which  differs  from  the  honeycomb)  can 
be  removed,  and  the  production  of  useless  consumers  thus  kept  in 
check.  The  workers  are  the  smallest  in  size  of  the  three  classes  of 
bees,  and,  although  females,  are  incapable  of  fertilization  by  the  drones, 
so  that,  although  they  occasionally  lay  eggs,  these  never  produce 
