12 THE APIARY; OB, 



stores. By putting on " super hives/' the required relief may, in 

 many cases, be given to them ; but should the multiplication of 

 stocks be desired, the bee-keeper will defer increasing the space 

 until the swarm has issued forth. In May, when the spring has 

 been fine, the queen-bee is very active in laying eggs, and the 

 increase in a strong healthy hive is so prodigious that emigration is 

 necessary, or the bees would cease to work. 



It is now a well established fact that the old queen goes forth, 

 with the first swarm, preparation having been made to supply her 

 place as soon as the bees determine upon the necessity of a division 

 of their commonwealth. Thus the sovereignty of the old hive, after 

 the first swarm has issued, devolves upon a young queen. 



As soon as the swarm builds combs in its new abode, the 

 emigrant-queen, being impregnated and her ovaries full, begins 

 laying eggs in the cells, and thereby speedily multiplies the 

 labourers of the new colony. Although there is now amongst 

 apiarians no doubt that the old queen quits her home, there is no 

 rule as to the composition of the swarm — old and young alike 

 depart. Some show unmistakable signs of age by their ragged 

 wings, others their extreme youth by their lighter colour ; how they 

 determine which shall stay and which shall go has not yet been 

 ascertained. In preparation for fiight, bees commence filling their 

 honey bags, taking sufficient, it is said, for three days' sustenance. 

 This store is needful, not only for food, but to enable the bees to 

 commence the secretion of wax and the building of combs in their 

 new domicile. 



On the day of emigration the weather must be fine, warm, and 

 clear, with but little wind stirring; for the old queen, like a prudent 

 matron, will not venture out unless the day is in every way favorable. 

 Whilst her majesty hesitates, either for the reasons we have mentioned, 

 or because the internal arrangements are not sufficiently matured, 

 the bees will often fly about or hang in clusters at the entrance 0/ 

 the hive for two or three days and nights together, all labour 

 meanwhile being suspended. The agitation of the little folk is 

 well described by Evans : — 



See where, with hurried step, the impassioned throno- 

 Pace o'er the hive, and seem, with plaintive son", 

 T' invite the loitering queen ; now range the floor 

 And hang in cluster'd columns from the door;' ■ ' 



