66 THE BEE KEEPER'S MANUAJU. 



ing daily, some hundreds of thousands of eggs, or had given 

 several hundred queens to each hive, then from the 

 very nature of the case, a colony must have gone on in- 

 creasing, until it became .a scourge rather than a benefit to 

 man. In the warm climates of which the bee is a native, 

 they would have established themselves in some cavern or 

 capacious cleft in the rocks, and would there have quickly 

 become so powerful as to bid defiance to all attempts to ap- 

 propriate the avails of their labors. 



It has already been stated, that none, except the mother 

 wasps and hornets, survive the winter. If these insects had 

 been able, like the bee, to commence the season with the 

 accumulated strength of a large colony, long before its 

 close, they would have proved a most intolerable nuisance. 

 If, on the contrary, the queen bee had been compelled, soli- 

 tary and alone, to lay the foundations of a new common- 

 wealth, the honey-harvest would have disappeared before 

 she could have become the parent of a numerous family. 



In the laws which regulate the increase of bees as well 

 as m all other parts of their economy, we have the plainest 

 proofs that the insect was formed for the special service of 

 the human race^ 



The process of reaeing the Qtjeen more PAETicnLAR- 

 . LY described. 



If in the early part of the season, the population of a 

 hive becomes uncomfortably crowded, the bees usually 

 make preparations for swarming. A number of royal cells 

 are commenced, and they are placed almost always upon 

 those edges of the combs which are not attached to the 

 sides of the hive. These cells somewhat resemble a small 

 ground-nut or pea-nut, and are about an inch deep, and one- 



