Queen Bee qfthejirst Swarm. 605 



70 square feet, for an ordinary suburban family). Sow in drills, 

 half an inch deep, and 3 in. apart, and thin the plants to about 

 three in an inch in the row. From the time that the plants ap- 

 pear above ground, let them be exposed, by taking off the lights 

 all day, and every day, except in cases of storm and frost ; thus 

 treated, they will come into use in beautiful succession, con- 

 necting the autumn and spring-sown supplies from the open 

 ground. In February, a small sowing may be made on a warm 

 border, to succeed the forced ones. This sowing had better be 

 protected by an awning of mats (see awning for strawberries, 

 Vol. XIII. p. 308. fig. 107.)j till the weather gets settled. Sorts : 

 The Early horn may be grown in all cases, except for the prin- 

 cipal winter stock ; three fifths of which may be Altringham, 

 one fifth New green-topped white, and one fifth Early horn. 

 Storing : — About October, the crop may be dug up, with about 

 an inch of top to each, and stowed away in dry soil, in narrow 

 tiers, with their root ends inward, overlapping each other, and 

 forming a wall of shorn carrots about 18 in. thick. An open 

 shed (not open to thieves, but with open latticework), fronting 

 the north, will be found an excellent store-room for these roots. 

 Isleworth, 1838. 



Art. XL On the Queen Bee that leaves the Hive with the first Swarm. 

 By J. Wighton. 



Having some doubts as to whether it is the old queen who 

 goes off with the first swarm from a hive, I made the following 

 experiments. I examined a hive on the 12th of March, which 

 contained bees in every stage, but no drones were hatched. I 

 cut off the wings of the queen ; who, while in my hand, dropped 

 two eggs. On the 12th of June this hive swarmed; the bees 

 collected on the higher branches of a tree, but soon returned to 

 the hive, and upon searching I found the old queen on the ground, 

 in the wingless state in which I had left her three months before. 

 I replaced her in the hive. Three days of bad weather suc- 

 ceeded, but on the fourth the swarm again came off, the poor 

 queen falling to the ground, as on the previous occasion ; find- 

 ing the disappointed bees beginning to return, I carried the 

 queen to them, when they immediately settled about her, allowed 

 themselves to be quietly hived, and have since done extremely 

 well under their wingless mother. 



In an article on the calling of queen bees before swarming 

 (in p. 25.), I stated my inability to account for their silence 

 before the first swarm, except upon the supposition that the old 

 queen went off with it eight or ten minutes before her successors 

 left their cells. This having been ascertained to be the case, 



s s 3 



