Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1897-01-28
Honey Bees.

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Honey Bees.
The queen honey bee is the mother
II the swarm or colony, writes G. w
)emaree in Rural World. The number
Of bees in colony varies according
o the time of year. In the height OF
The breeding season, say in. the month
Of June, large colony Of bees may con-
ain fifty, and even sixty thousand
workers, the progeny of one mother
bee. called the queen. In the swarm
ng season strong queen in her prime
will lay from two to three thousand
Eggs in twenty-four hours. AS IN
credible az It may look to the uninlt-
ated very prolific queen can lay her
own weight in eggs in a day. The sex
In bee economy is the same as In other
animals, there lis no such thing as
'neuters" among bees. The queen
lays best two kinds Of eggs. male and
female. The worker bees are unde-
veloped females and the drones are the
males. The queen is a highly developed
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third Of an inch in diameter, and Is
highly fed ON "'royal jelly" while in
the larval state; on the sixteenth day
from the; laying of the egg, she emer-
ges from her cell queen indeed.
When five to seven days old she takes
her first flight into the open air IN
search of a mate. On the first day OF
her bridal trip she may take two
flights, and be absent two to five min
utes each time. On the following day,
If the observer will take his position
in front of the hive at o'clock p. M,
1t will not be long till he sees slight
commotion at the front of the hive;
the worker bees running excitedly
about the entrance; this warns him that
her royal highness is making ready for
her wedding tour. On the previous
day her flights we're in circles, her
head all the while turned toward her
domicile, but now she appears finely
inflated and bravely dashes into space.
The observer keeps his eyes on her
till she passes out of sight, with watch
in hand he counts the minutes. II ten
or twelve minutes expire and she de-
lays her coming, it may prove her
last trip, though she may return once
or twice in less time. On her final trip
she will be absent from 10 to % min
Ites, and when she returns to the evil
dent joy of the bees who watch for her
return, she brings with her the visible
evidence of having mated" From
that day she never leaves the hive, ex-
cept to go out with a swarm, though
she may live and deposit eggs, two,
three or four years. I owned one
queen of the Italian race, a daughter
of a queen imported from Italy, that
lived four years and two months. l
clipped one of her pairs of wings, so
that I could identify her. I now clip
all my queens. This is done to prevent
the swarms deserving at swarming
time.- The worker bees is produced
from the egg in 81 days. 1t requires
three days for the egg to hatch into a
minute larva (worm). The larva state
lasts about seven days, when the cell
is sealed over by the nurse bees; then
follows the chrysalis or nymph state
the greatest Of all mysteries In insect
life-and this is followed by the per-
feet imago-the worker bee. The drone
is produced in his season, in % days
from the laying of the egg. Queen bees
live on the average about two and one
half years. Worker bees in the work.
ing season, live about GO days, but in
a state of rest, as when In winter
quarters, the workers may survive six
months, and in some cases longer. 1t
is more difficult to ascertain the ma
tural life Of the drones or male bees, as
the workers will not tolerate them af-
ter the swarming season Is past. But
I have kept them in queenless colonies,
and found that they will live two or
three months. 1t could never be
known to a certainty, how long bees
live under natural conditions, until
bees differing in color from ou1 COM
mon black or brown bees were import
ed to this country. and the art of in
PRODUCING one queen in the place of
another was discovered. If we capture
and remove the queen from colony
Of black bees and introduce a queen of
one of the yellow varieties-Italian,
Cyprian or Syrian-in her place, it will
be found that the colony will be
changed to a colony of yellow bees in
about two months from the time the
last of the progeny Of the black queen
matches out, nearly all the black bees
will die in that interval of time.
| Value of Shade.-Nature protects the
soil from the burning rays of the sun
by an impervious shade. Nature. by