164 



FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



the combs may be in such condition that the queen will be 

 cramped for room, even in a hogshead. 



NON-SWARMING PILES. 



For a good many years I have been in the habit of having 

 in each apiary one or more colonies whose hives were kept as a 



Fig. 55 — Heartsease. 



sort of storehouse where extra frames of brood or honey could 

 be put, to be drawn from as occasion required, but often there 

 has been no drawdng, and these " piles " have grown to be four 

 or five stories high with an immense force of bees. I never 

 knew one of them to swarm. But the ventilation was as im- 

 mense as the force of bees, for each story had an entrance of 



