1870.] CULTIVATION OF HARDY FRUITS. 105 



that number of small swarms issue from the hive at the same time and 

 alight in different places. If each of these small swarms was placed 

 in a separate hive, they would require very great assistance under the 

 most favourable conditions ; and it would only be in cases where the 

 young queens were the offspring of others of great beauty and fertility 

 that any attempt should be made to save them. Should they all be 

 placed in one hive, a triangular royal battle might ensue, in which two 

 of them must perish ; and it is just possible all might be killed, in 

 which case the bees would return to the parent hive, and remain 

 under the new young queen just hatched or hatching there. 



If the weather or other circumstances should cause the bees to deter- 

 mine not to swarm a second time, the first young queen is proclaimed, 

 and she speedily destroys the remaining queens or queen-cells. This 

 she does in a clever way, having regard to her own safety. She does 

 not go to the end of the cell and open it, as in that case the young 

 queen inside could get out, and would fight for it ; but she rips open 

 the side of the cell with her mandibles, and stings her enemy in the 

 soft part of her body, after which the bees cast the dead carcass forth, 

 and the queen-cells are pared away by them until there is only left of 

 each so much as is about the size and shape of the cup of an acorn. 

 When two young queens issue at the same time, if they discover each 

 other a royal battle is inevitable, and each strives to gain the mastery 

 and inflict a mortal stab ; and it might happen they should so grasp 

 each other as that both would be killed simultaneously. 



{To be continued.) 



THE CULTIVATION OF HARDY FRUITS. 



THE CHERRY. 



[Continued from page 73.) 



The pruning and training of the Cherry are works of comparative 

 ease — in fact, after a proper start has been made, there is less trouble 

 with the Cherry than any other of the large-growing hardy fruits. 

 The shoot made the first year after budding or grafting should be 

 encouraged as much as possible, not only to form a nice strong branch, 

 but also to perfect its wood thoroughly by the end of the season. 

 The mode of training must regulate the style of pruning to be adopted. 

 As a rule, in the British Isles the Cherry is grown as a wall-tree ; 

 nevertheless in some districts, but more especially in England, it is 



