Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee: A Bee Keeper's Manual — 15 - Ch. 10 (2) Artificial Swarming, part 3

On the supposition that by the time the fruit-trees are in blossom, the Apiarian has, in hives of my construction, ten powerful colonies, let him select four of the strongest, and make from each a forced swarm.

He will now have four queenless colonies, which will at once, proceed to supply themselves with a young queen.

In about ten days, he may make from his other six stocks, six more forced swarms.

He will probably find in making these, many sealed queens, if he has delayed the operation until about swarming time; so that he may give to each of the six stocks from which he has expelled a swarm, the means of soon obtaining another.

If he has not enough for this purpose, he must take the required number from the four stocks which are raising young queens, the exact condition of which ought to have been previously ascertained.

Some of these stocks will be found to contain a large number of queen cells.

Huber, in one of his experiments, found twenty-four in one hive, and even a larger number has sometimes been reared by a single colony.

As the Apiarian will always have many more queens than are wanted, he ought to select those combs which contain a sealed queen, so as to secure say, about fifteen combs, each of which has one or more queens.

If necessary, he can cut out some of the cells, and adjust them in the manner previously described.

Each comb containing a sealed queen must be put with all the bees adhering to it, into an empty hive; and by a divider, or movable partition, they must be confined to about one quarter of the hive; water should be given to them, and honey, if none is contained in the comb.

I always prefer to select a comb which contains a large number of workers almost mature, and some of which are just beginning to hatch, so that even if a considerable number of the bees should return to the parent stock, after their liberty is given them, there will still be a sufficient number hatched, to attend to the young, and especially to watch over the maturing queens.

If the comb contains a large number of bees just emerging from their cells, I prefer to confine them only one day, otherwise I keep them shut up until about an hour before sunset of the third day.

The hives containing the small colonies, ought, if they are not well protected by being made double, to be set where they are thoroughly sheltered from the intense heat of the sun; and the ventilators should give them an abundance of air.

They should also be closed in such a manner, as to keep the interior in entire darkness, so that the bees may not become too uneasy during their confinement.

I

accomplish this by shutting up their entrance, and replacing their front board, just as though I were intending to put them into winter quarters.

These small colonies I shall call _nuclei_, and the system of forming stocks from them, my nucleus system; and before I describe this system more particularly, I shall show other ways in which the nuclei can be formed.

If the Apiarian chooses, he can take a frame containing bees just ready to mature, and eggs and young worms, all of the worker kind, together with the old bees which cluster on it, and shut them up in the manner previously described; even if he has no sealed queen to give them.

If all things are favorable, they will set about raising a queen in a few hours.

I once took not more than a tea-cup full of bees and confined them with a small piece of brood comb in a dark place, and found that in about an hour's time, they had begun to enlarge some of the cells, to raise a new queen!

If the Apiarian has sealed queens on hand, they ought, by all means, to be given to the nuclei, in order to save all the time possible.

I sometimes make these nuclei as follows.

The suitable comb with bees &c. , is taken from a stock-hive, and set in an empty one, made to stand partly in the place of the old hive, which, of course, must previously be moved a little on one side.

In this way, I am able to direct a considerable number of the bees from the old stock to my nucleus, and the necessity of shutting it up, is done away with.

If the bees from the old stock do not enter the small one, in sufficient numbers, I sometimes close their hive, so that the returning bees can find no other place to enter.

My object is not to catch up a _large_ number of bees.

For reasons previously assigned, I do not want enough to build new comb, but only enough to adhere to the removed comb, and raise a new queen from the brood, or develop the sealed one which has been given them.

A short time after one nucleus has in this way, been formed, another may be made by moving the old hive again, and so a third or fourth, if so many are wanted.

This plan requires considerable skill and experience, to secure the right number of bees, without getting too many.

If bees are to be made to enter a new hive, by removing the old one from its stand, it will always be very desirable not only to have the new one contain a piece of comb, but a considerable number of bees _clustered_ on that comb.

I repeatedly found my bees, after entering the hive, refuse to have anything to do with the brood comb, and for a long time, I was unable to conjecture the cause; until I ascertained that they were dissatisfied with its deserted appearance, and that, by taking the precaution to have it well covered with bees, I seldom failed to reconcile them to my system of forced colonization.

I can usually tell, in less than two minutes, whether the operation will succeed or not.

If the returning bees are content, they will, however much agitated at first, soon begin to join the cluster on the comb; while if they are dissatisfied, they will abandon the hive, and nearly all the bees that were originally on the comb, will leave with them.

They seem capricious in this matter, and are sometimes so very self-willed, that they refuse to have anything to do with the brood comb, when I can see no good reason why they should be so rebellious.

I shall here state some _conjectures_ which have occurred to me on this subject.

Is it absolutely certain that bees can raise a queen from _any_ egg or young larva which would produce a worker?

Or if this is possible, is it certain that _any kind of workers_ can accomplish this?

Huber ascertained to his own satisfaction that there were two kinds of workers in a hive.

He thus describes them.

"One of these is, in general, destined for the elaboration of wax, and its size is considerably enlarged when full of honey; the other immediately imparts what it has collected to its companions, its abdomen undergoes no sensible change, or it retains only the honey necessary for its own subsistence.

The particular function of the bees of this kind is to take care of the young, for they are not charged with provisioning the hive.

In opposition to the wax workers, we shall call them small bees or nurses."

"Although the external difference be inconsiderable, this is not an imaginary distinction.

Anatomical observations prove that the capacity of the stomach is not the same--experiments have ascertained that one of the species cannot fulfil all the functions shared among the workers of a hive.

We painted those of each class with different colors, in order to study their proceedings; and these were not interchanged.

In another experiment, after supplying a hive deprived of a queen with brood and pollen, we saw the small bees quickly occupied in nutrition of the larvæ, while those of the wax working class neglected them.

Small bees also produce wax, but in a very inferior quantity to what is elaborated by the real wax workers."

Now if these statements can be relied on, and thus far I have nearly always found Huber's statements, where-ever I had an opportunity to test them, to be most wonderfully reliable, then it may be that when bees refuse to cluster on the brood comb and to proceed at once to rear a new queen, it is because they find that some of the conditions necessary for success are wanting.

Either there may not be a sufficient number of wax-workers, to enlarge the cells, or a sufficient number of nurses to take charge of the larvæ; or it may be that the cells contain only young wax-workers which cannot be developed into queens, or only young nurses, which may be in the same predicament.

If any of my readers imagine that the work of carefully experimenting, in order to establish facts upon the solid basis of complete demonstration, is an easy work, let them attempt now to prove or disprove the truth of any or all of my conjectures upon this single topic.

They will probably find the task more difficult than to blot over whole quires and reams of paper with careless assertions.

All operations of any kind which interfere in the very least, with the natural mode of forming colonies, are best performed in the swarming season: or at least, at a time when the bees are breeding freely, and are able to bring in large stores of honey from the fields.

At other times, they are very precarious, and unless under the management of persons who have great experience, they will in most cases, end in nothing but vexatious losses and disappointments.

It is quite amusing to see how bees act, when they find, on their return from foraging abroad, that their hive has been moved, and another put in its place.

If the new hive is precisely similar to their own, in size and outward appearance, they enter it as though all was right; but in a few moments, they rush out in violent agitation, imagining that they have made a prodigious mistake and have entered the wrong place.

They now take wing again in order to correct their blunder, but find to their increasing surprise, that they had previously directed their flight to the familiar spot; again they enter, and again they tumble out, in bewildered crowds, until, at length, if they can find the means of raising a new queen, or one is already there, they seem to make up their minds that if this is not home, it not only looks like it, but stands just where their home ought to be, and is at all events the only home they are likely to get.

No doubt they often feel that a very hard bargain has been imposed upon them, but they seem generally determined to make the best of it.

There is one trait in the character of bees, for which I feel, not merely admiration, but the most profound respect.

Such is their indomitable energy and perseverance, that under circumstances apparently the most despairing, they will still labor to the utmost, to retrieve their losses, and sustain the sinking state.

So long as they have a queen, or any prospect of raising one, they struggle most vigorously against impending ruin, and never give up, unless their condition is absolutely desperate.

In one of my observing hives, I once had a colony of bees, the whole of which might have been spread out on my two hands, busy at work in raising a new queen, from a small piece of brood comb.

For two long weeks, they adhered with unfailing perseverance and industry, to their forlorn hope: until at last, one of the two queens which they raised, came forth, and destroyed the other while still in her cell.

The bees had now dwindled away to less than half their original number, and the new queen had wings so imperfect that she was unable to fly.

I watched their proceedings with great interest; they actually paid very unusual attention to this crippled queen, and treated her more as they are wont to treat a fertile one.

In the course of a week, there were not more than a dozen left in the hive, and in a few days more, I missed the queen, and saw only a few disconsolate wretches crawling over the deserted comb!

Shame upon the faint-hearted and cowardly of our own race, who, if overtaken by calamity, instead of nobly breasting the dark waters of affliction, and manfully buffetting with their tumultuous waves, meanly resign themselves to their ignoble fate, and sink and perish where they might have lived and triumphed; and double shame upon those who thus "faint in the day of adversity," when living in a Christian land, they might, if they would only receive the word of God, and open the eye of faith, behold a bow of promise spanning the still stormy clouds, and hear a voice bidding them, like the great apostle of the Gentiles, learn not merely to "rejoice in hope of the glory of God," but to "glory in tribulations also."

I have been informed by Mr. Wagner, that Dzierzon has recently devised a plan of _forming nuclei_, substantially the same with my own.

His book, however, contemplates having two Apiaries, three or four miles apart, and his plans for multiplying colonies, as there described, were based upon the supposition that the Apiarian will have two such establishments.

Such an arrangement would no doubt very greatly facilitate many operations.

Our forced swarms might all be removed from the Apiary where they were formed, to the other, and our nuclei treated in the same way, and there would be no necessity for confining the bees after their removal.

There are however, weighty objections to such an arrangement, which will prevent it, at least for some time, from being extensively adopted.

The labor of removing the bees backwards and forwards, is a serious objection to the whole plan; and in addition to this, the necessity of having a skillful Apiarian at each establishment, puts its adoption out of the question, with most persons who keep bees.

It might answer, however, if two bee-keepers, sufficiently far apart, would enter into partnership, and manage their bees as a joint concern.

Dzierzon's new plan of creating nuclei, is as follows.

Towards evening, remove a piece of brood comb, with eggs and bees just hatching, and put it, with a sufficient number of mature bees, into an empty hive; there must be enough to keep the brood from being chilled over night.

If the operation is performed so late that the bees are not disposed to take wing and leave the hive, by morning a sufficient number will have hatched, to supply the place of those which may abandon the nucleus.

In my numerous experiments last Summer, in the formation of artificial swarms, I tried this plan and found that it answered a good purpose; the chief objection to it, is the difficulty often of selecting the suitable kind of comb, if the operation is delayed until late in the afternoon.

I

prefer, therefore, to perform it, when the sun is an hour or two high, and to confine the bees until dark.

If there are not a sufficient number of bees on the comb, I shake off some from another frame, directly into the hive, and shut them all up, giving them a supply of water.

Sealed queens if possible, should be used in all these operations.

I shall now give a novel mode of creating nuclei, which I have devised, and which I find to be attended with great success.

Hive a new swarm in the usual manner, in an old box, and as soon as the bees have entered it, shut them up and carry them down into the cellar.

About an hour before sunset, take combs suitable to form as many nuclei as you judge best, say five or six, or even eight or ten if the swarm was large, and you need as many.

Bring up the new swarm and shake it out upon a sheet, sprinkling it gently with sugar-water.

With a large tumbler or saucer, scoop up without hurting any of the bees, a pint or more of them, and place them before the mouth of one of the hives containing a brood comb;

repeat the process, until each nucleus has, say, a quart of bees.

If you see the queen, you may give the hive in which you put her, three or four times as many bees as any other; and the next day it may be strengthened with a few combs containing brood, just ready to mature.

If you did not find her, at the time of forming the nuclei, when you afterwards examine them, the one which contains her may be properly reinforced with bees and comb, so as to enable it to work to the best advantage.

If this plan of forming nuclei, were attempted earlier in the afternoon it would be difficult to prevent the bees from communicating on the wing, and all going to the hive which contained their queen.

If however, the bees when first shaken out of the temporary hive, are so thoroughly sprinkled, as not to be able to take wing and unite together, this mode of forming colonies may be practiced at any hour of the day; and an experienced Apiarian may prefer to do it, as soon as he has fairly hived the new swarm.

When the bees are shaken out in front of a hive which has a sealed queen, or eggs from which they can raise one, having a whole night in which to accustom themselves to their new situation, they will be found, the next day, to adhere to the place where they were put, with as much tenacity as a natural swarm does to their new hive.

How wonderful that the act of swarming should so thoroughly impress upon the bees, an absolute indisposition to return to the parent stock.

If this were a fixed and invariable unwillingness, a sort of blind, unreasoning instinct, it would not be so surprising, but we have already seen that in case the bees lose their queen, they return in a very short time to the stock from which they issued!

If the nuclei formed in the manner just described, found in their new hive, no means of obtaining a queen, they would all return, next morning, to the parent stock.

When the Apiarian can obtain a natural swarm from any other Apiary, it may be divided into nuclei in the same way, and even a forced swarm, if brought from a distance, will answer equally well.

If the Apiarian wishes to form colonies earlier than the season of natural swarming, and cannot conveniently obtain a forced swarm from an Apiary, at least a mile distant, he may, before the bees begin to fly out in the Spring, transport one of his stocks to a neighbor's, and force from it a swarm at the desired time.

Even if it is moved not more than half a mile off, the operation will be almost sure to succeed.

Of all modes of forming the nuclei, this I believe will be found to be the neatest, simplest and best.

Having thus described the various ways in which I have successfully formed my nuclei, I shall now show how they may be all built up into powerful stocks.

It will be very obvious that on the ordinary plan of management, they would be absolutely worthless, even if it were possible to form them with the common hives.

If they were not fed, they would be unable to collect the means of building new comb, and would gradually dwindle away, just as third or fourth swarms which issue late in the season; nor could they be saved even by the most generous feeding, as they would only use their supplies to fill up the little comb they had;

so that when the queen was ready to lay, there would be no empty cells to receive her eggs, and too few bees to build any, even if they had all the honey that they required.

Such small colonies must gradually waste away, unless they can be speedily and effectually supplied with the requisite number of bees, and this can be done only by hives which give the control of all the combs.

With such hives, I can speedily build up my nuclei, (provided I have not formed too many,) to the strength necessary to make them powerful stocks.

The hives containing them, ought if possible, to stand at some distance from other hives, say two or three feet: and if this cannot conveniently be done, they should in some way, be so distinguished from the adjoining hives, that the young queens when they are hatched and go out to seek the drones, will not be liable to lose their lives by entering a wrong hive on their return.

A small leafy twig fastened on the alighting board of such hives, when they stand near to others, will be almost sure to prevent such a catastrophe: if they stand near to each other, some may be marked in this way, and others with a piece of colored cloth.

(See Page 159. ) To guard them against robbers, &c. , the entrances to these nuclei should be contracted, so that only a few bees can enter at once.

Those which were confined, should be examined, the day after their liberty is given to them; the others, the day after they were formed, when, if they were not supplied with a sealed queen, they will be found actively engaged in constructing royal cells.

A new range of comb should now be given to each one, and it should contain no old bees, but brood rapidly maturing, and if possible, eggs and worms only a few days old.

This new addition of strength will greatly encourage the nuclei, and give them the means of starting young queens, if they have not succeeded in doing so with the first comb.

I have very frequently found that for some cause which I have not yet ascertained, they often start a large number of queen cells, which in a few days, are all discontinued and untenanted.

The second attempt seldom fails.

Does practice in this thing make them more expert?

But I will simply state the fact, referring to my conjectures on page 218; and remarking that when they make a second attempt, they seem frequently disposed to start a much larger number than they otherwise would have done.

In two or three days after giving them the first piece of comb, I give them another, if their queen is nearly mature, and I now let them alone until she ought to be depositing eggs in the hive.

I then give them, at intervals of a few days, two or three combs more, and they will now be sufficiently powerful in bees, to gather large quantities of honey, and fill the empty part of their hive.

The young queen is supplying with thousands of worker-eggs, the cells from which the brood has emerged, and also the new ones built by the bees, and the new colony will soon be one of the best stock hives in the Apiary.

If some of the full frames are moved, and empty ones placed between them, as soon as the bees begin to build powerfully, there need be no guide combs on the empty frames, and still the work will be executed with the most beautiful regularity.

But what, in the mean time, is the condition of the hives from which we are taking so many brood combs for the proper development of our nuclei;

are they not weakened so much as to become quite enfeebled?

I come now to the very turning point of the whole nucleus system.

If due judgment has not been used, and the sanguine bee-keeper has endeavored to multiply his colonies too rapidly, a most grievous disappointment awaits him.

Either his nuclei cannot be strengthened at the right time, or this can be done, only by impoverishing the old stocks, and the result of the whole operation will be a most decided failure, and if he is in the vicinity of sugar-houses, confectionaries, or other tempting places of bee resort, he will find the population of his colonies very seriously diminished, and will have to break up the most of the nuclei which he had formed, and incur the danger of losing nearly the whole of his stock.

I lay it down as a fundamental principle in my nucleus system, that the old stocks must never be so much weakened by the removal of brood-comb and bees that they are not able to keep their numbers sufficiently strong to refill rapidly all the vacancies among their combs.

If the Apiarian attempts to multiply his stocks so rapidly that this cannot be done, I will ensure him ample cause to repent at leisure of his folly.

If however, the attempt at very rapid multiplication is made only by those who are favorably situated, and who have skill in the management of bees, a very large gain may be made in the number of stocks, and they may all be strong and flourishing.

If a strong stock of bees in a hive of moderate size, which admits of thorough inspection, is examined at the height of the honey harvest, nearly all the cells will often be found filled with brood, honey or bee-bread.

The great laying of the queen, according to some writers, is now over, not however as they erroneously imagine, because her fertility has decreased, but merely because there is not _room_ in the hive for all her eggs.

She may often be seen restlessly traversing the combs, seeking in vain for empty cells, until finding none, she is compelled to extrude her eggs only to be devoured by the bees.

(See p. 52. ) If some of the full combs are removed, and empty ones substituted in their place, she will speedily fill them, laying at the rate of two or three thousand a day!

When my strong stocks are from time to time deprived of one or two combs, if honey can easily be procured,[19] the bees proceed at once to replace them, and the queen commences laying in the new combs as soon as the cells are fairly started.

If the combs are not removed _too fast_, and care is taken not to deprive the stock of so much brood that the bees cannot keep up a vigorous population, a queen in a hive so managed, will lay her eggs in cells to be nurtured by the bees, instead of being eaten up; and thus, in the course of the season, she may become the mother of three or four times as many bees, as are reared in a hive under other circumstances.

By careful management, brood enough may, in this way, be taken from a single hive, to build up a large number of nuclei.

Towards the close of the season however, as such a hive has been constantly tasked in building comb and feeding young bees, almost all its honey will have been used for these purposes, and although it may be very populous, unless it is liberally fed, it will be sure to perish.

Since the discovery that unbolted rye flour will answer so admirably as a substitute for pollen, we can supply the bees not only with honey, when none can be obtained from the blossoms, but with an abundance of bee-bread, when pollen is scarce.

As I am writing this chapter, (March 29, 1853,) my bees are zealously engaged in taking the flour from some old combs in front of their hives, and they can be seen most beautifully moulding the little pellets on their thighs.

By my movable combs, I can give them the flour at once in their hives, as it can easily be rubbed into an empty comb.

The importance of Dzierzon's discovers of a substitute for pollen, can hardly be over-estimated.

If he had done nothing more for the cause of Apiarian science, no true-hearted bee-keeper would ever allow his name to be forgotten.

In the Chapter on Feeding, I shall give more specific directions as to the way in which the cultivator must feed his bees, when he aims at increasing, as rapidly as possible, the number of his stocks.

Unless this work is done with great judgment, he will find often that the more he feeds, the less bees he has in his hives, the cells being all occupied with honey instead of brood.

Such is the passion of bees for storing away honey, that large supplies of it will always most seriously interfere with breeding, unless the bees are sufficiently numerous to build new comb in which the queen can find room for her eggs.

I have no doubt that some who have but little experience in the management of bees, are ready to imagine that they could easily strike out a simpler and better way of increasing the number of colonies.

For instance: let a full hive have half its comb and bees put into an empty hive, and the work of doubling, is without further trouble, effectually accomplished.

But what will the queenless hive do, under such circumstances?

Why, build of course, queen cells, and rear another.

But what kind of comb will they fill their hives with, before the young queen begins to breed?

Of that, perhaps, you had never thought.

Let me now lay down the only safe rule for all who engage in the multiplication of artificial swarms.

Never, under _any_ circumstances, take so much comb and brood from your stock hives, as seriously to reduce their numbers.

This should be to the Apiarian, as "the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not."

Suppose that I divide a populous stock, about swarming season, into four or five colonies; the strong probability is, that not one of them, if left to themselves, will be strong enough to survive the Winter.

If fed in the ordinary way, and yet not supplied with combs and bees, their ruin will often be only accelerated.

If, on the contrary, I had taken, from time to time, combs sufficient to form three or four nuclei, and had strengthened the new colonies, in such a way as not to draw too severely upon the resources of the parent stock, I might expect to see them all, in due time, strong and flourishing.

In the Spring of the year, if I desire to determine the strength of a colony principally to raising young bees, I can easily effect it by the following plan.

A box is made, of the same inside dimensions with the lower hive, into which the combs and bees of a full hive can all be transferred, as soon as the bees are gathering honey enough to build new combs.

This box is now set over the old hive, which contains its complement of frames with guide combs, or better still, with empty combs.

As soon as the bees begin to build, they take possession of the lower hive, through which they go in and out, and the queen descends with them, in order to lay her eggs in the lower combs.

As soon as the old apartment becomes pretty well filled, a large number of combs with maturing bees, may be taken from the upper one, and when the hive below is full, they may all be safely removed.

If none of the upper combs are removed, they will be filled with honey, as soon as the brood is hatched; and as they will contain large stores of bee-bread, they will answer admirably for replenishing stocks which have an insufficient supply.

In no other way, so far as I know, can so much honey be secured, and if quantity, not quality, is aimed at, or if the test of quality is its fitness for the use of the bees, I would recommend this mode as superior to any other.

If two swarms are hived together, or a very powerful stock is lodged in a hive, so that at once they can have access to the upper apartment, an extraordinary quantity of honey can be secured, and of a very excellent quality.

As soon as the bees have raised one generation of young, in the combs of the upper box, or rather in a part of them, they will use it chiefly for storing honey, and all that it contains may be taken from them.

In flavor, it will be found to be nearly as good as honey stored in what is called "virgin comb."

In the Chapter on the Requisites of a good hive, I have said that in size it should be adapted to the natural instincts of the bee, and yet admit of enlarging or contracting, according to the wants of the colony placed in it.

I never use a hive, the main apartment of which, holds less than a Winchester bushel.

If small colonies are placed in such a hive, it must be temporarily partitioned off, to suit the size of its inmates; for if bees have too much room given to them, they cannot concentrate their animal heat, and are so much discouraged that they often abandon their hive.

I am aware that many judicious Apiarians recommend hives of much smaller dimensions, and I shall now give my reasons for using one so large.

If a hive is too small, then in the Spring, the combs are soon filled with honey, bee-bread and brood, and the surprising fertility of the queen bee, can be turned to no efficient account.

If the honey-harvest in any year, is deficient, such a colony is very apt to perish in the succeeding Winter; whereas in a large hive, the honey stored up in a fruitful season, is a reserve supply, in time of need.

In very large hives, I have seen large accumulations of honey which have been untouched for years, while on the same stand, stocks of about the same age, in small hives have perished by starvation.

A good early swarm in any situation at all favorable, will fill, the first season, a hive that holds a bushel: and if there is any location in which they cannot do this, a doubled swarm should be put into the hive, or bee-keeping may, as far as profit is concerned, be abandoned.

But it may be objected that if the swarm was not sufficiently strong to fill their hive, the bees often suffer from the cold in Winter, and become too much reduced in numbers, to build early and rapidly in the ensuing Spring.

This is undoubtedly true, and hence the great importance of putting a generous allowance of bees into a hive at the first start, unless, as on my plan, the requisite strength can be given to them, at a subsequent period.

The hive, if large, should be all the more carefully protected from extremes of cold, in order to give the bees an opportunity of developing their natural powers of re-production, to the best advantage.

In such a hive, the queen will be able to breed almost every month in the year, even in the coldest climates where bees flourish, and on the return of Spring, thousands of young bees will be found in it, which could not have been bred in a small, or badly protected hive.

The Polish hives described by Mr. Dohiogost, have already been referred to.

Some of these hold about three bushels, and yet the bees swarm from them with great regularity, and the swarms are often of immense size.

These hives are admirably protected, and at the time of hiving at least _four_ times the number of bees are lodged in them, that are ordinarily put into one of our hives.

The queen bee, in such a hive, has ample room to lay her three thousand eggs, or more, daily: and a prodigious colony is raised, which often stores enormous supplies of honey.

As all the frames in my hives are of the same dimensions, the size of the hive may be conveniently varied, to suit the views of different bee-keepers; for they may be large or small, according to the number of frames designed to be used.

I hope, before long, to experiment with hives as large again, as those that I now use; or rather, with such, as by containing an upper box, may be made to accommodate twice as many bees.

This whole subject of the proper size of hives, certainly needs to be taken entirely out of the region of conjecture, and to be put upon the basis of careful observations.

Unquestionably the size will require, in some respects, to be modified by the more or less favorable character of the country for bee-keeping; but I am satisfied that small hives will be found of but little profit, and that large ones, unless well stocked with bees, from the first, and thoroughly protected, will often fail to answer any good end.

If I should find on further experiment, that the very large hives of which I have spoken, are better, my hives are at present so constructed that without any alteration of existing parts, they can easily be supplied with the required additions.

I have already mentioned that I sometimes build my hives, three in one structure, in order to save expense in their construction.

I do not however, wish to be considered as recommending such hives as the best for general use.

For some purposes a single hive is unquestionably the best, as it can be easily moved by one person; and this, will many times be found to be a point of great importance.

The double hives, or two in one, are for most purposes, decidedly the best, as well as the cheapest.

I have quite recently contrived a plan of constructing my wooden hives in such a manner as to give them very great protection against extremes of heat and cold, while at the same time they can be easily and cheaply made, by any one who can handle the simplest mechanical tools.

It has been previously stated that the queen bee cannot be induced to sting, by any kind of treatment however severe.

The reason of this strange unwillingness to use her natural and powerful weapon, will be obvious, when we consider how indispensable the preservation of her life is to the very existence of the colony, and that her single sting, the loss of which would be her death, could avail but little for their defence, in case of an attack.

She never uses her weapon, except when engaged in mortal combat with another queen.

As soon as the two rivals come together, they clinch, at once, with every demonstration of the most vindictive hatred.

Why then, are not both of them often destroyed?

and why are not hives, in the swarming season, almost certain to become queenless?

We can never sufficiently admire the provision so simple and yet so effectual, by which such a calamity is prevented.

The queen bee never stings unless she has such an advantage in the combat, that she can curve her body under that of her rival, in such a manner as to inflict a deadly wound, without any risk of being stung herself!

The moment that the position of the two combatants is such that neither has the advantage, and that both are liable to perish, they not only refuse to sting, but disengage themselves, and suspend their conflict for a short time!

If it were not for this peculiarity of instinct, such combats would very often terminate in the death of both the parties, and the race of bees would be in danger of becoming extinct.