No C. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 395 



workers. Such a colony niay. however, accept a (iiieen-cell, and 

 some have reported success by dropping into the brood-nest a virgin 

 queen not more tlian an hour or two old. It is a curious fact that 

 while bees are so loyal to their own queen that they will not tol- 

 erate the i)resence of a stranger, a very young virgin queen may be 

 put into any hive without being molested so long as she remains 

 young. As soon, however, as she attains a little age, perhaps when 

 a day or two old, she is no longer tolerated, perhaps, because at 

 that age she begins to feel the royal blood stir within her, and has 

 sinister designs upon the reigning sovereign. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



While it is the rule that only one queen will be allowed in a colony, 

 it is not such a verv uncommon thing to find a mother and daughter 

 laying peaceably side by side. This will be in a case where the old 

 queen has become superannuated and yet lingers on a short time 

 after her successor begins to lay. But in a few days the older queen 

 is likely to be missing. The possibility of such a thing should be 

 thoroughly understood, for sometimes it may happen that a queen 

 is bought and lost on being introduced, just because the owner had 

 killed one of the queens without suspecting the presence of the other. 

 It is well to have the wings of laying queens clipped, for then one 

 has a chance to tell something about it when there has been a change 

 of queens. While there may be such a thing as tw'O queens not 

 mother and daughter being in a colony at the same time, the case is 

 very rare indeed. 



ARTIFICIAL INCREASE. 



While the majority of those who keep bees on a small scale depend 

 upon natural swarming for increase, there may be circumstances 

 that make it desirable to increase without depending on swarming. 

 There is a great dilTerence in diflerent bees as to the tendency to 

 swarming, as a general rule, the best workers being least disposed 

 to swarm, and some think it not entirely impossible that we may 

 yet breed a strain of bees that will be practically non-swarming. 

 They say, "Non-sitting hens have been bred, why not non-swarming 

 bees?" Even as it is now, there are colonies that have not swarmed 

 for several years in succefi>sion. In such case it will not do to depend 

 entirely upon natural swarming. Indeed, it may be desirable to 

 resort to artificial increase even when there is all the amount of 

 increase desired from natural swarming. For it is not merely the 

 amount, but the kind that must be considered, and the colonies most 

 mcliued to swarm are not likely to be the best workers, while the 



