1857.] The Honey Bee. 273 



eggs which will become future queens, nor until her principal lay- 

 ing of the eggs producing drones is over. 



The workers construct the royal cell or cells. In a productive 

 year they will often be found numerous, and as before stated, a 

 number of young queens will be hatched, when a battle ensues, and 

 all will be killed but one. The surplus queens are often killed in 

 the egg and grub state. 



One chief cause or accompaniment of swarming apparently con- 

 sists in the agitation of the queen. She, by her peculiarly purturbed 

 condition, arouses the bees nearest her. She darts back and forth 

 over the combs, and seems to say, get ready I get ready ! we must 

 be off! They, faithful to her signal, and not stopping to parly as to 

 the justice or reasonableness of the requisition, sally to the outlets 

 of the hive, the queen escaping first. They seem perfectly crazed, 

 and the hive, at the instant of the queen's egress, resembles the boil- 

 ing over of a kettle, and the entire swarm is soon upon the wing, 

 leaving the hive almost uninhabited. Commonly, they take but a 

 short flight, and the queen alighting first, the bees cluster around 

 her. They are then easily transferred to the home you would have 

 them occupy, whether it be a glass palace, or hollow log ; and 

 they will soon tell you whether they are satisfied. The general 

 and most reliable indications of swarming are, first, the appearance 

 of drones ; for no swarm will proceed from a hive where there are 

 no drones. Secondly, when the bees begin to cluster upon the out- 

 side of the hive, and finally, when there seems under this state of 

 the case, fewer bees than usual going abroad for collection, and re- 

 turning without honey, or farina. A practical apiarian can tell with 

 great precision when a swarm is about to emerge. And the swarm- 

 ing season is a time of untold interest and excitement to him. His 

 pleasure at this time must be experienced — must be felt ; to be ap- 

 preciated. The cry, " the bees are swarming," puts him all on tip- 

 toe, and the peculiar buzz, is exhilarating in the extreme. Bees on 

 swarming seem to have no precise object in view, they will alight in 

 the grass, or on the nearest tree, and often resort to situations the 

 most unlikely and unsuitable for their convenience or preservation. 

 If the queen should perchance alight upon your hat, the bees all 

 settle down at once quietly around her. 



After rising in the air it is commonly some tree that arrests their 

 progress, and the queen will often alight at the unsheltered extrem- 

 ity of a branch, which, on leaving, they rise higher into the air, and 

 18 



