4 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
The circumstances differ in the two cases; and 
the bees in this, as in other parts of their practice, 
are sufficiently utilitarians to modify their proceed- 
ines accordantly. In the one instance the office 
of the males is rendered void, and in the other it 
is indispensable to the young queens. Such of 
these as go forth with swarms become fertilised in 
two or three days after (though sometimes it is 
later than this), and then follows the laying of eggs 
in about a similar distance of time. Thenceforth 
they remain fruitful, without the subsequent presence 
of a single male in the family till the following 
spring. The destruction of the drones, therefore, be 
it sooner or later, may be considered an indication 
that the hive contains no queen brood, and, conse- 
quently, that no swarming is to be expected. 
Conflicting opinions have been formed as to the 
desivableness of assisting the working bees in the task 
of expelling the drones—often a protracted process, 
for although the latter are not armed, like 
their more numerous opponents, yet their superior 
size and strength dispose them often to 
make 
a stout resistance. 
If it can be done at once, without 
undue annoyance to the family, much fightine and 
valuable time may doubtless be saved by interfering ; 
but no advice can be worse than that of attempting ie 
accomplish the work piecemeal. When attacked, the 
drones, to stave off the impending 
storm, will 
congregate together 
in a remote part of the hive. 
Observation led me to think they would at such a 
time be clad to retreat for still sreater safety into a 
separate box, so placed as to be accessible to them. 
