NATURAL SWARMING. 105 



been lost, how can a royal cell be given to the swarm 1 

 In such a case, we resort to a pin or skewer of wood, sharp- 

 ened at both ends. The royal cell, with a bit of comb 

 attached, is stuck on one end of this skewer, the other is 

 stuck in the side of the hive, leaving the comb with the 

 infant queen in the centre of the swarm. The bees know 

 the value of the boon thus bestowed — a great calm and hum 

 of joy take the place of the wild roar of excitement. If 

 neither a matured queen nor an infant one can be obtained, 

 the case is not hopeless. Remember that bees can make 

 queens from common eggs ; so that we have only to cut a 

 small bit of comb containing eggs from another hive, and 

 place it between the combs of the queenless one, in order 

 to avert its threatened loss. The moment a queenless, egg- 

 less hive receives the gift of a few eggs from another hive 

 through the hands of their owner, the bees begin to fashion 

 royal cells, and royal tenants in them. Two notablp, in - 

 stances of bees without queens finding eggs for themselves 

 have been known . They had been without queens, and 

 of course without eggs, for fourteen days or thereabouts, 

 when an egg was seen in a royal cell in each hive. This 

 was a most unusual and extraordinary occurrence ! Where 

 did the eggs come from 1 They must have been obtained 

 from other hives, not by the hand of man, but by two bees 

 remarkable alike for wisdom and courage. Brave bees ! 

 you injured no other community, but you saved your own 

 from ruin and extinction ! 



If a second swarm or the old hive lose its queen on its 

 marriage-tour, and the other does not, they could be 

 united. And in other ways queenless swarms can be used 

 up. They could be united to weak stocks and small 

 swarms, and removed to a distance for a while. 



Virgin swarms are 'the grandchildren of stock-hives, ; 

 they come from swarms of the current year. They are 

 generally obtained from first swarms, and therefore possess 



