190 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



comb belonging to the nucleus, with all the bees that are 

 on it, may then be given to the artificial colony, C. Or, 

 if the bee-keeper prefer, he may give to A its own queen, 

 and give the young one with the precautions subse- 

 quently described to G. 



If the stocks are to be doubled, a second nucleus must 

 be formed, by taking, about ten days later, a brood-comb 

 from B, and giving the second queen to the second artifi- 

 cial colony, Z>* 



If the colonies are to be multiplied more rapidly still, 

 then from the first nucleus only its queen must be taken, 

 after she has begun to lay, and her colony will at once 

 begin to raise another. If she is removed before she has 

 laid any eggs, the comb of the nucleus after all the bees 

 are shaken from it must be returned to A or _?, and re- 

 placed with another that is weh 1 supplied with eggs : and 

 if, at any time, the number of bees in the nucleus is too 

 small, it may be reinforced by exchanging its comb for 

 one that is as full of hatching brood as when it was first 

 formed (p. 188). The same process must be adopted 

 with the second nucleus, and thus at regular intervals 

 enough queens may be obtained from the two, to multiply 

 the colonies to any desired extent. 



To make this matter perfectly plain, let us suppose that 

 C is to be forced on the 1st of June, and _Z>, E, F, &c., 

 at intervals of ten days.f Then, as before, (7, A, and J3 

 (p. 185), represent the positions of the colonies on the 1st 

 of June, and the other columns, their places on the 10th, 

 20th, &c. Now, let land. II represent the nuclei I use 



* Those who rely entirely on natural swarming, may often secure fertile queens, 

 by catching the supernumerary young queens of after-swarms (p. 122), and hiving 

 them, with a few bees, in any small box containing a piece of worker-comb. 



t Of course, no one will imagine, that operations which depend so much on 

 season, climate, and weather, can always be conducted with the mathematical 

 accuracy with which they are set forth in such an illustration. 



