THE ECONOMY OE THE HIVE 19 



to lead a swarm or to meet the drone for the 

 act of fertilization. 



After the honey season breeding, gradually slows 

 down in the colonies, so that by the end of August 

 very little brood is to be found in the hives, unless 

 there is a late flow of nectar. The bees now 

 begin to think of winter, all stores are sealed up, 

 and the hive is made practically air-tight, as re- 

 gards the top and sides, by the use of a resin- 

 ous substance called propolis, gathered from the 

 limbs and branches of trees. The drones are 

 usually killed off by the end of July, there being 

 no further need of their services, and incidentally 

 it may be noted that the presence of drones in 

 a hive during the autumn or winter months is 

 almost a sure sign of queenlessness. Towards the 

 autumn the bees become gradually more and more 

 inactive with the advent of the first frosts, until 

 at the approach of winter they fall into the semi- 

 dormant condition in which they exist until the 

 spring sunshine rouses them to renewed activity. 



This, then, is a brief resume" of a season's 

 happenings in a colony of bees which are left 

 to their own devices. Such devices, however, 

 while well enough, no doubt, from the bees' point 

 of view, would be very detrimental, many of them,, 

 to profitable bee-keeping, so I will later endeavour 

 to show how these wonderful little insects may 

 be led into such paths as will benefit their owner 

 without loss to themselves. 



Old-fashioned ' bee-keeping consisted almost 



