NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 165 



its end the heat was intense, the trees were covered with nourish, 

 and the hives rapidly filled, and swarming commenced. Our hopes 

 were raised, and we thought that the season would excel all that 

 had preceded it. I waited anxiously to see a swarm of Cyprians, 

 but alas, on the 28th a terrific thunderstorm came on and was 

 followed by rain, which continued more or less till 15th July, by 

 which time every hive was depending on artificial feeding for its 

 very existence. The 15th of July was lovely, and most of the 

 hives gathered on it alone from 8 to 10 lbs of honey. Rain 

 again set in and continued till the end of August, so that but for 

 artificial feeding most of the stocks would have perished. 



About this time I received a letter from a gentleman in the 

 south of England, who wrote — "We have been slinging honey for 

 five months continuously. 2\ T ever before have we had such a sur- 

 plus. The tables of the British Beekeepers' great show at Kensing- 

 ton proved that, as there were several tons of honey exhibited. 

 The yield was enormous, and beekeeping, alike to the cottar and 

 honey man, has been a profitable business." 



August. We left the Cyprians in May about to swarm. They 

 had not done so up to the beginninng of this month, but in the 

 abnormal state of the hive we witnessed a strange phenomenon, 

 over 200 queen cells being in it. At last on the 2nd they 

 swarmed, and over a dozen princesses with them. Some of the 

 latter were not much larger than the ordinary workers, and all were 

 deposed but the finest.' They worked with great vigour, but, 

 strange as it may appear, the queen was not fertilized, the bees 

 began to dwindle, and it was only on Saturday, 24th September, 

 that I saw worker brood in the hive, although many drones had 

 been hatched. I am anxious to see the result, and whether they 

 will be pure or crossed. 



In September, from the 10th till the 18th, the weather was 

 lovely, and the bees wrought with right goodwill, putting in on the 

 average from 15 to 25 lbs. per hive. "Xever before had I observed 

 them so jealous of their stores. On the least provocation they used 

 their lances freely. 



In another week they will be all put into winter quarters, and 

 from my twenty stocks I have not taken a single pound of honey, 

 choosing rather to keep them strong, and trusting for a successful 

 season next year. During the summer I have given them one and 

 a half hundredweight of sugar. Only last Friday I had a letter 



