198 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



two whole weeks, they adhered to their forlorn hope ; 

 until at last, when they had dwindled to less than one 

 half of their original number, their new queen emerged, but 

 with wings so imperfect that she could not fly. Crippled 

 as she was, they treated her with almost as much respect 

 as though she were fertile. In the course of a week 

 more, scarce a dozen workers remained in the hive, and a 

 few days later, the queen was gone, and only a few dis- 

 consolate wretches were left on the comb. 



Shame on the faint-hearted of our race, who, when 

 overtaken by calamity, instead of nobly breasting the 

 stormy waters of affliction, meanly resign themselves to an 

 ignoble fate, and perish, where they ought to have lived 

 and triumphed ! and double shame upon those who, living 

 in a Christian land, thus " faint in the day of adversity," 

 when if they would only believe the word of God, they 

 might behold, with the eye of faith, his " bow of promise'* 

 spanning the still stormy clouds, and hear his voice of 

 love bidding them trust in Him as a " Strong Deliverer!" 



In the previous editions of this work, with other 

 methods of artificial swarming, very full directions were 

 furnished for increasing colonies, by giving to the nuclei 

 a second comb with maturing brood, as soon as their 

 queens began to lay eggs, and then, at proper intervals, a 

 third, and a fourth, until they were strong enough to take 

 care of themselves. This mode of increase is laborious, 

 and requires skill and judgment which few possess : it is 

 also peculiarly liable to cause robbing among the bees, 

 requiring the hives to be too frequently opened, to remove 

 the combs needed in the various processes. As a number 

 of nuclei are to be simultaneously strengthened, the 

 Apiarian cannot complete his artificial processes by a 

 single operation, and must always be on hand, or incur 

 the risk of ending the season with a number of starving 



