736 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The first swarin after the limb was 



wings as they fly swift- 

 ly about before settling 

 in a cluster on some 

 convenient bnsh or low- 

 hanging limb, he cannot 

 help being convinced 

 that the occasion is a 

 festive one for the bees, 

 in which he is glad to 

 join and do his part. 



It seems fundament- 

 ally to be the case that 

 swarming is caused by 

 an overcrowded condi- 

 tion of the hive. In 

 May and June, after the 

 honey-flow is well es- 

 tablished and the hive is 

 full of bees, the honey- 

 combs laden with honey 

 and the new brood soon 

 to hatch, the bees de- 

 cide that it would be ad- 

 vantageous for part of 

 the colony to leave their 

 present home and seek 

 new quarters; so queen- 

 cells are biiill, and pro- 



vision thus made to supply a new queen, 

 for the old queen always leaves with the 

 swarm. It is not known what determines 

 some of the bees, usually about two-thirds 

 of the colony, to leave while the others 

 remain to care for and hatch the brood. 

 But so well organized are tlieir methods 

 that in this as well as in all other economi- 

 cal questions, their procedure is based upon 

 wonderful foresight. 



In the first place the bees realize that 

 their existence depends upon their having a 

 queen, for the queen lays all the eggs (in 

 the working season she lays as many as 

 three thousand eggs a day) from which the 

 bees are hatched. There are three kinds of 

 bees to a hive — the great majority, known 

 as " worker " bees, being the honey-gather- 

 ers; the queen which is ruler of the busy 

 tribe, and a limited proportion of drones. 

 The drones are of masculine gender, the 

 " w^orkers " being females. Eggs for work- 

 ers and drones are unlike; but one of the 

 queer things is that the same egg that pro- 

 duces a worker-bee will, if fed and nur- 

 tured in a certain way, produce a queen. 

 Therefore the workers may decide for them- 

 selves wlien they wish to hatch one or more 

 queens. With admiration I gazed upon a 

 queen-cell, shaped somewhat like a peanut 

 hull, and hanging down from the side of 

 the comb. This is made by the workers to 

 accommodate the queen's wonderfully slen- 

 der, tapering body. I also noticed drone- 



Removable combs make it possible to examine the colony at any time. 



