158 Transactions op the American Institute. 



queen laid on the entrance. The bees quickly return. Unable to 

 enter the hive, and finding their queen, they cluster upon her. A 

 hive is now placed near them, and a few bees scooped in front of 

 it. As soon as they are moving toward the hive steadily, the cage 

 is opened, and the queen placed among those entering the hive. In 

 a few moments the hive is moved where it is to stand. The 

 entrances to the old hive are opened, and all is over; no excite- ^ 

 ment; no ladder needed; no trees injured; no first swarm last; • 

 and last, but not least, the swarm has been hived by a lady. 

 When a second swarm issues, it is put in a box having a loose 

 cover, until the one from which it came can be opened and its royal 

 cells removed. Then it is returned to the patent hive. No more 

 swarms issue, and a fine lot of box honey is obtained. My hives 

 stand on stakes about a foot from the groimd, and from five to ten 

 feet apart. They face every way, and are scattered over an eighth 

 of an acre in the most sublime confusion. 



Bees, unlike the correspondents of the Farmers' Club, when 

 magnetized by the spirit of emigration, do not ask this or any 

 other august body whether it is better to go to Vineland or Min- 

 nesota. But, by a republican vote, without caucus or lobby, a day 

 is fixed when, Providence permitting, they will take up their line 

 of march. 



Preliminary arrangements are promptly made for the welfare 

 of those too young to go or otherwise inclined to remain, and the 

 general labors of the time suspended. For a few days the work of 

 preparation goes quietly but steadily on. Orders are received that 

 every female soldier take eight pieces of prepared honeycomb, 

 three days' rations, one round of fixed ammunition, and form into 

 line I Great activity prevails ! Orders are quickly passed. For- 

 ward, march I but a moment passes, and the grand army is in motion. 



The queen lives to be about three or four years old. The work- 

 ers are females incapable of impregnation. They are provided with 

 honey sacks for cai'iyiug honey, and baskets on their legs for carry- 

 ing pollen, an instrument of defence, which is both a torpedo and a 

 ram, considered by many a formidable weapon, either offensive or 

 defensive. The workers do all the woik of the hive. The queen 

 lays all the eggs. There are two kinds of eggs, one producing 

 workers, the other only drones. This, to a certain extent, is con- 

 trolled by the queen. Any eggs deposited in the drone cells which 

 are the larger cells in the hive, will invariably produce drones, 

 while those which are deposited in the worker cells produce work* 



