THE QUEEN BEE. 43 



in which seven queen larvae all about the same age were de- 

 veloping simultaneously. 



Cheshire speaks of as many as thirty of these cells being 

 constructed in succession. There is not much economy in per- 

 mitting this. It keeps a large number of the bees from field 

 labour, and the secreting of so much royal jelly necessitates the 

 consumption of a lot of material that could be far better utilised 

 in the rearing of brood. When there is such a superabundance 

 of queen-cell building going on they should be destroyed after 

 selecting three or four of the best, or as many as may be required. 

 Of coui^se, these remarks do not apply to nucleus swarms that are 

 kept especially for queen-raising. In addition to the seven cells 

 in the hive referred to, there were other cells hanging here and 

 there in various stages of maturity. The abnormal abundance of 

 developing queens in this hive resulted in four swarms issuing 

 therefrom at intervals of about eight days each. No. 4 shows the 

 vacated cells from which can be judged, approximately, the 

 difference between the ages of its inmates as they emerged there- 

 from in the order lettered from a to d respectively. These cells, 

 as before stated, are never used the second time. The thimble- 

 like form, as seen in No. 1, is gradiially reduced until it assumes 

 the form of an acorn cup seen in the same figure. 



Spring-time is the season when queen-raising is carried on 

 most vigorously. When pollen and honey are coming in abund- 

 antly, the bees put forth the whole of their united strength io 

 fulfil the command to be "fruitful and multipl_y, and replenish the 

 earth." It is also the season when artificial quean-raising is most 

 successful. Nos. 5 and 6 will give some idea of how queens can be 

 raised artificially, and the number that can be produced at one 

 time on the same frame in nucleus hives. These frames were pro- 

 duced by Mr. A. A. Roberts, of Muswellbrook, and resulted in 

 the production of upwards of twenty queens of excellent type and 

 perfect health. No bee-keeper can expect to be successful, no 

 matter how good the season may be, unless he practises queen- 

 raising. 



The queen — which to the inexperienced differs in nothing but 

 .-^ize from an ordinary worker, although in reality she is differently 

 formed in every part from that of the common herd when she J? 

 laying, which is the only function she has to perform in ;he 

 domestic economy of bee-life, she moves slowly and gently from 

 cell to cell, followed in her jirogrcss by a nuinber of workers who 

 are constantly seen to touch her with their antennae, but in no way 



