settled, the rest of the swarm soon flock 

 around her ; and in about an hour the whole 

 body seems to be perfectly at rest. 



When a hive sends out several swarms in 

 a year, the first is always the best, as well 

 as the most numerous ; for, having the 

 greatest part of the summer before them, 

 they have the more time for making wax 

 and gathering honey, and consequently 

 their labors are the most valuable to their 

 proprietor. Though the swarm is princi- 

 pally made up of the younger bees, those of 

 all ages generally compose the number of 

 emigrants ; and as a single hive sometimes 

 contains upward of 40,000 inhabitants, such 

 a vast body may well be supposed to work 

 with great expedition. 



Much might be said before exhausting 

 the interesting and instructive study of the 

 bee. We have in this article endeavored to 

 point out those features of their social life 

 that are generally accepted by authority, 

 setting aside other and even marvelous 

 facts, which do not appear to be based on 

 sufficient evidence. 



(1.) " It is not only an old saying but a 

 common one, at the present day, that when 

 a bee loses its sting, it dies. Probably this 

 has arisen from a personal gratification, but 

 is it so? From our observation, we think 

 bees are not always disabled or mortally 

 wounded by losing their stings. Many 

 times we have had bees continue to try to 

 sting us, also pass back to the hives and 

 among the bees as though not conscious of 

 having lost their sting. We know queens 

 are not disabled to perform their duties by 

 losing a part, or the whole of her wings. A. 

 F. Moon records a case of a queen which 

 had left her sting in his hand, but she con- 

 tinued as fruitful as ever. , 



(2.) It is conceded by all observing bee- 

 men that the queen, or more properly speak- 

 ing, the mother-bee is not the ruler, but the 

 ruled. She does not lead out the swarm, 

 but the swarm leads her out ; she is averse 

 to the bees building queen cells, and will 

 tear down, destroy and kill the young 

 queens while in embryo, unless watched, 

 ruled and prevented by the workers.— 

 When swarms issue, she does not come 

 forth of her own free will, but is pulled, 

 crowded and dragged out ; and many times 

 she tries to return, and sometimes succeeds. 

 She is the mother of all the community 

 when a hive is in a normal condition, but 

 when there is no queen nor eggs to raise 

 one from, they frequently have workers 

 which lay eggs that always develop into 

 drones. 



(3.) The queen is never accompanied by 

 a guard of 12 workers, neither more nor less ; 

 but apart of the time she is accompanied by 



workers which caress and feed her, just in 

 proportion to the number of eggs laid. 



(4.) Drones never gather any honey, but 

 fill themselves before leaving the hive, and 

 return empty. At any time when honey 

 becomes scarce in the fields, the drones are 

 killed, as there is then no probability of 

 swarming, and consequently no young 

 queens to become impregnated ; the only 

 exception to this is in an abnormal colony 

 where there is not a fertile queen. 



(5.) When drones are no longer needed 

 in the hive, they are pushed, or dragged out 

 of the hive, their wings gnawed so that 

 they may not return, or even stung to death. 



(6.) Occasionally a queen will lay some 

 eggs before mating with a drone ; if so, 

 they will all produce drones. Of those laid 

 after mating, produce mostly workers de- 

 pending upon whether laid in drone or 

 worker cells ; and thus she continues from 

 4 to 5 years. Sometimes from old age or 

 injury, she lays eggs which hatch to drones. 

 The egg which is destined to produce a 

 queen is determined by the workers, and 

 not the queen, for any egg which will pro- 

 duce a worker will produce a queen, by 

 being given an abundance of room and food. 



(7.) If so, from where are the eggs pro- 

 cured to produce queens '? The same egg 

 that will produce a worker will, under 

 proper conditions, produce a queen. 



Eliza, Mercer Co., 111. D. D. Palmer. 



Kretchmer's Feeder. — Some of the 

 points claimed for this feeder by friend 

 Kretchmer, are as follows : "It will 

 do all that other feeders do, and has 

 some advantages beyond even that. It 

 can be set in a common auger hole ; it 

 has a firm stand on the hive, and ex- 

 cludes light and rain ; the VanDeusen 

 will let rain in around the feeder when 

 feeding from the outside and requires a 

 large hole ; mine does not ventilate 

 when feeding, but can be used to close 

 the feed hole, or ventilate at pleasure 

 when not used as a feeder, allowing the 

 escape of foul air from the centre of the 

 hive, without admitting rain or light, 

 and is hence never glued up." 



It can be obtained at this office. 



" Red hot" is what everybody calls the 

 weather of July, this year. It has been 

 hotter than for years. The bees have, seem- 

 ingly, enjoyed it. 



