Heredity in the Bee-Garden. 



it but to let the colonies split up in the natural way. But 

 the modern frame-hive, with its extending- brood-chamber, 

 does away with that necessity. Instead of the old beg-garly 

 ten or twxlve thousand, we can now raise a population of 

 forty or fifty thousand bees in each hive, and so treble and 

 quadruple the honey-harvest." 



" But," I asked him, *' do not the bees go on swarming 

 all the same, if you let them?" 



"The old instincts die hard," he said. " Some day 

 they will learn more scientific ways; but as yet they have 

 not realised the change that modern bee-keeping has made 

 in their condition. Of course, swarming has its clear, 

 definite purpose, apart from that of relieving the congestion 

 of the stock. When a hive swarms, the old queen goes off 

 with the flying squadron, and a new one takes her place at 

 home. In this way there is always a young and vigorous 

 queen at the head of affairs, and the well-being of the 

 parent stock is assured. But advanced bee-keepers, whose 

 sole object is to get a large honey yield, have long recog- 

 nised that this is a very expensive w^ay of rejuvenating old 

 colonies. The parent hive will give no surplus honey for 

 that season; and the swarm, unless it is a large and very 

 early one, will do little else than furnish its brood-nest for 

 the coming winter. But if swarming be prevented, and 

 the stock requeened artificially every two years, we keep 

 an immense population always ready for the great honey- 

 flow, whenever it begins." 



He took up the heavy barrow, laden with its pile of 

 super-racks, and started trundling it up the path, talking 

 as he went. 



** If only the bees could be persuaded to leave the queen- 

 raising to the bee-keeper, and would attend to nothing else 

 but the great business of honey-getting ! But they won't — 

 at least, not yet. Perhaps in another hundred years or so the 

 old wild habits may be bred out of them; but at present it 

 is doubtful whether they are conscious of any * keeping ' at 

 all. They go the old tried paths determinedly; and the 

 most that we can accomplish is to undo that part of their 

 work which is not to our liking, or to make a smoother 

 road for them in the direction they themselves have 

 chosen." 



" But you said just now," I objected, " that no swarm- 



37 



