Thanking my patrons for past favors, and respectfully soliciting a continuance of the same, I present the third edition of this work, and invite to it the careful and unprejudiced consideration of every one who may read its pages.
Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton.
West Gorham, Me., Jan. 1, 1891.
CHAPTER I.
HONEY BEES.
A SWARM of bees contains one Queen, thousands of workers, and in the summer season a limited number of drones. The queen is the only fully developed female in the swarm. She never leaves the hive except on two occasions—when leading a swarm, and when but a few days old, to meet the drone, or male bee, in the air, for the purpose of fecundation. It appears from close observation that only one impregnation is operative during life, as old queens have never been known to leave the hive for that purpose.
The natural life of a queen averages from four to six years. Queens sometimes become entirely barren before death; at other times the eggs of old queens are found to produce only drones. No matter whether deposited in drone cells, or worker cells, the progeny will be drones invariably. When drones are reared in worker cells, they will be very much dwarfed in size, notwithstanding the worker bees attempt to overcome the difficulty by lengthening the worker cells to accommodate the monstrosities. The queen has a sting yet she may be handled with impunity, for she will not use it except when in deadly combat with a rival queen. She receives the most marked attention from all members of her family; deprive a swarm of their queen, and they will, as soon as the loss is known, manifest the greatest agitation and alarm, and if the swarm is one just hived, and only a few hours from the parent stock, they will all return at once to the old home. They appear to fully realize the vast importance of a mother, and that with no means to supply her place they must soon perish; and to avoid their impending fate they return to the old hive. With old stocks deprived of their queen the result is different, as will be shown further on. Every one who keeps bees should strive to become familiar with the appearance of the queen, that they may be able to recognize her at a glance among thousands of workers, as it will often be necessary to look her up in my new system of bee management. In looking for the queen in full hives, she is usually found on the brood combs, unless in opening the hive she may have been frightened and taken refuge in some hiding place, at the corner of the hive, at the bottom ends of the comb-frames, or some similar hiding place. After we become familiar with her appearance and movements we are able to find her quite readily, even when the hive is crowded with bees.
