BREKDING. 83 



swarm, (this ia the time to avoid destroying the 

 .worker-brood ; the particulars will be given in another 

 place.) I have transferred a great many, and never 

 failed to find a few drones about ready to leave the 

 *ombs. "Whether the swarm had left the last of May, 

 or middle of July, there was no difference, they were 

 on hand. 



A very early swarm in good seasons, will often fill 

 the hive, and send out an issue in from four to six 

 weeks : the usual amount of drone-brood may be 

 found in these cases. The following circumstance 

 would appear to indicate that all the eggs are alike, 

 and if they are laid in drone-cells, the bees give the 

 proper . food and make drones ; if in worker-cells, 

 ■workers, just as they make a queen from a worker- 

 egg, when put in a royal cell. 



In a glass hive, one sheet of comb next the glass, 

 and parallel with it, was full size ; about three-quarters 

 of this sheet was worker-cells, the remainder drono- 

 cells. The family had been rather small, but now 

 had increased to a full swarm ; a few drones had ma- 

 tured in the middle of the hive.- It was about the 

 middle of June, 1850, when I discovered the bees on 

 this outside sheet, preparing it, as I thought, for 

 brood, by cutting off the cells to the proper length. 

 They had been used for storing honey, and were much 

 too long, being about an inch and a half deep. In a 

 day or two after I saw a few eggs in both worker and 

 drone-.cells ; four or five days afterwards, on opening 

 the door, I found her " majesty " engaged in deposit- 

 ing eggs in. the drone cells. Nearly every one already 



