4 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



is soon floating, and by which it is fed. What this " royal 

 jelly" is, I do not know — neither can I tell where it 

 conies from. It is understood that no writer has ven- 

 tured to describe how or where it is manufactured or 

 obtained. It has been said that this substance, which 

 possesses so great and peculiar a power, is more pungent to 

 the taste than that which is used in feeding the young of 

 workers. "We have never tasted either. If some ana- 

 lytical chemist would ever like to examine the two sub- 

 stances, with a view to discover the difference, we would 

 gladly furnish him with a thimbleful of jelly in the 

 swarming season— taking it, of course, from the cells in 

 which it may be deposited. 



What takes place at the birth of queens wUl be ex- 

 plained when we come to the chapter on swarming, 

 natural and artificial. 



IMPREGNATION OF QUEENS. 



This is a very important affair — so important that a bee- 

 keeper should know all he can about it ; when and where 

 it takes place, and what happens when it never takes 

 place at all. Very well. Queens are mated or take the 

 drone when they are very young — viz., from two to ten or 

 twelve days old. If they are not mated before they are 

 ten or twelve days old, they are worthless for breeding pur- 

 poses, worthless for every purpose save that of keeping the 

 bees together tUl they are worn out by labour or old age. 



When we consider the importance of impregnation, the 

 number of drones is not to be wondered at, especially 

 when we consider that copulation never takes place inside 

 a hive. If the weather be unfavourable for ten days 

 after their birth, queens are not mated. Some five-and- 

 twenty years ago I caused a hive to rear a queen in the 



