APPENDIX. 117 



covering from their stupor and missing their queen, will, as is usual in such cases, fly away 

 one by one to the well-known locality of their old dwelling. In an incredibly short time, 

 (though of course much agitated at first,) the swarm will have comfortably established itself 

 in its new dwelling, as soon as the piece of oomb in the bee glass is detected, and their at- 

 tention turned to it. as the nursery of a new dynasty of queens. Somewhere between the 

 tenth and fourteenth day after, the glass must be removed and a fresh one substituted for 

 it, having another piece of fluitable brood oomb adjusted inside, and so on every fortnight, 

 until the honey harvest is oonoluded, when, on plundering the hive, not a cell will be 

 found defiled with the necessary pollutions of comb that has had brood in it. It is evident 

 that according to this plan any number of youthful queens may he reared to substitute for 

 old queens of other stocks, whose vigor is supposed to be on the decline. 



To this most profitable plan of managing prime swarms, on the spoliation system, I can 

 only imagine one objection, namely, that the combs of the new hive, although free from 

 the defilement of brood cells, might yet be filled with useless hoards of pollen, stored up by 

 the provident inseots in anticipation of a day of need. How this would be I cannot tell ; 

 I only throw out these suggestions for the consideration of the curious apiarian. As to the 

 ultimate fate of the bees, they would, if left to themselves, gradually dwindle away by 

 natural death, so that not one probably would be found alive by Christmas. The most 

 humane method of dealing with them, therefore, would be to fumigate and drown them 

 afterwards, or destroy them over the brimstone pit. 



Since writing the above, the admirable work of Bonner has come into my hands, who, I 

 find, had an idea of the advantage which might accrue from the early removal of itsqueen 

 from a hive destined for autumn plunder. " If I intended to kill a hive of bees in autumn, 

 (he says,) I would prefer the taking away their queen from them about the end of July, 

 and leaving a great number of common bees in the hive, which, as they would have few 

 bees to nurse up, would collect a greater quantity of honey in that period than if they had 

 a queen in the hive daily laying eggs for them, which would employ a good number of 

 the bees both to hatch and nurse up the young, and thereby the fewer would be employed 

 in collecting honey." 



(H— Page 51.) 



I AM not aware that any experiments have been instituted, or, at least, their results pub- 

 lished, which tend to explain the probable consumption of honey in the elaboration .of wax. 

 This is a question of considerable importance in apiarian economics, as it would teach us 

 the value of this latter substance, and lead to a discouragement of all unnecessary con- 

 struction of comb, in the event of its being found the costly article which I am disposed to 

 believe it is. 



The pound of wax sells for, at least, double the money that a pound of average honey 

 will fetch in the market ; whence, it might, at first sight, seem desirable to encourage 

 comb making ; but this, a little reflection will show to be a mistake ; for, if wax be a 

 secretion from honey, as all apiarians are now agreed in believing it to be, it requires no 

 further proof to satisfy us that honey is, in reality, the costlier article of the two. If this 

 be granted, and I do not see how it can be denied, it remains to be proved that the differ- 

 ence is so great as to make it an important point in bee management to discourage the 

 unnecessary elaboration of wax. As a stimulus to future experiment, and a clue towards 

 arriving at some definite and certain knowledge upon the subject, I insert here the follow- 

 ing extract from my note book, the purport of which I have already communicated to the 

 " Cottage Gardener," as follows : — 



