108 BEE PASTUBAGE. 



and never found them less profitable on that account. 

 I am so well satisfied of this, that whenever I now 

 have a hive in such a situation, it is a rule to intro- 

 duce a swarm. 



It is calculated, I believe, generally, that when me- 

 dium-sized hives are full, about seven-eighths of the 

 cells are made the proper diameter for raising the 

 workers, the remainder for drones, except a few for 

 queens. Here is one circumstance I do not remember 

 to have seen mentioned, and ftiat is, bee-bread is gen- 

 erally packed exclusively in the worker cells. I would 

 say always ; but I would do better to be careful, espe- 

 cially as I find my bees doing things so differently from 

 some others. I might as well remark here, that when 

 taking combs from a hive filled with honey, if such 

 pieces were selected as contained only the large or 

 drone cells, but little risk of bee-bread would occur ; 

 of the other combs, the outside sheets and the corners 

 of the others near the top are the next best. The 

 sheets of comb used principally for raising workers,, 

 and the cells next those so used, for an inch or two in 

 width, are nearly all packed with pollen, and much of 

 it will remain, when the breeding season is past. 

 Smaller portions are found in the worker cells in nearly 

 all parts of the hive ; even the boxes will sometimes 

 contain a little. 



MANNER OF PACKING STOKES. 



In a glass hive, the bees may be seen depositing their 

 load of pollen ; the legs holding the pellets are thrust 

 into the cell, (not their heads), and a motion like rub- 



