ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 229 



bolted rye flour will answer so admirably as a substitute for 

 pollen, we can supply the bees not only with honey, when 

 none can be obtained from the blossoms, but with an abund- 

 ance of bee-bread, when pollen is scarce. As I am writing 

 this chapter, (March 29, 1853,) my bees are zealously en- 

 gaged in taking the flour from some old combs in front of their 

 hives, and they can be seen most beautifully moulding the 

 little pellets on their thighs. By my movable combs, I can 

 give them the flour at once in their hives, as it can easily be 

 rubbed into an empty comb. The importance of Dzierzon's 

 discovers of a substitute for pollen, can hardly be over-esti- 

 mated. If he had done nothing more for the cause of Api- 

 arian science, no true-hearted bee-keeper would ever allow 

 his name to be forgotten. 



In the Chapter on Feeding, I shall give more specific 

 directions as to the way in which the cultivator must feed 

 his bees, when he aims at increasing, as rapidly as possible, 

 the number of his stocks. Unless this work is done with great 

 judgment, he will find often that the more he feeds, the less 

 bees he has in his hives, the cells being all occupied with 

 honey instead of brood. Such is the passion of bees for 

 storing away honey, that large supplies of it will always 

 most seriously interfere with breeding, unless the bees are 

 sufficiently numerous to build new comb in which the queen 

 can find room for her eggs. 



I have no doubt that some who have but little experience 

 in the management of bees, are ready to imagine that they 

 could easily strike out a simpler and better way of increas- 

 ing the number of colonies. For instance : let a full hive 

 have half its comb and bees put into an empty hive, and 

 the work of doubling, is without further trouble, efiectually 

 accomplished. But what will the queenless hive do, under 

 such circumstances } Why, build of course, queen cells, 

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