e of both eggs and fowls is steadily advancing, a great many
people are now raising fowls by means of an incubator for hatching, and
a brooder as a substitute for the mother hen.

The use of the incubator is extending each year and is now almost
universal where any considerable number of chicks are to be hatched.
Doubtless it will continue to be used wherever poultry-production is
engaged in on a large scale.

The brooder is employed to take care of the chickens as soon as they
leave the incubator.

SECTION LVIII. BEE CULTURE

Stock-raisers select breeds that are best adapted to their needs.
Plant-growers exercise great care in their choice of plants, selecting
for each planting those best suited to the conditions under which they
are to be grown. Undoubtedly a larger yield of honey could be had each
year if similar care were exercised in the selection of the breed of
bees.

[Illustration: FIG. 263. A CARNIOLAN WORKER]

To prove this, one has only to compare the yield of two different kinds.
The common East Indian honey bee rarely produces more than ten or twelve
pounds to a hive, while the Cyprian bee, which is a most industrious
worker, has a record of one thousand pounds in one season from a single
colony. This bee, besides being industrious when honey material is
plentiful, is also very persevering when such material is hard to find.
The Cyprians have two other very desirable qualities. They stand the
cold of winter well and stoutly defend their hives against robber bees
and other enemies.

The Italian is another good bee. This variety was brought into the
United States in 1860. While the yield from the Italian is somewhat less
than from the Cyprian, the Italian bees produce a whiter comb and are a
trifle more easily managed.

The common black or brown bee is found wild and domesticated throughout
the country. When honey material is abundant, these bees equal the
Italians in honey-production, but when the season is poor, they fall far
short in the amount of honey produced.

The purchase of a good Cyprian or Italian hive will richly repay the
buyer. Such a colony will cost more at the outset than an ordinary
colony, but will soon pay for its higher cost by greater production.

[Illustration: FIG. 264. A CARNIOLAN DRONE]

A beehive in the spring contains one queen, several hundred drones, and
from thirty-five to forty thousand workers. The duty of the queen is to
lay all the eggs that are to hatch the