LOSS OP Qt3EENS. 251 



Bection to winter a good family. This will have to be 

 introduced, of course, from another hive, containing a 

 queen ; but this belongs to Fall management. 



As respects the time that elapses from the impreg- 

 nation of the queen till the commencement of egg lay- 

 ing, I cannot tell, but guess it might be about two or 

 three days. I have driven out the bees twenty-one 

 days after the first swarm, when no second swarm had 

 issued — the young queen came out on the fourteenth 

 day. I found eggs and some very young larvse. When 

 it is remembered that eggs remain three days before 

 they hatch, it shows that the first of these must have 

 been deposited some four or five days. When writers 

 tell us the exact time to an hour (46 or 48) from im- 

 pregnation to laying, I am willing to admit the thing 

 in this case, but feel just as if I would like to ask how 

 they managed to find out the fact ; by what sign they 

 knew when a queen returned from an excursion, whe- 

 ther she had been successful or not, in her amours ; 

 or, whether another effort would have to be made; 

 and then, how they managed to know exactly when 

 the first egg was laid. 



Occasionally a queen is lost at other than the swarm- 

 ing season, averaging about one in forty. It is most 

 frequent in spring ; at least it is generally discovered 

 then. The queen may die in the winter,' and the bees 

 not give us any indications till they come out in spring. 

 (Occasionally they may all desert the hive, and join an- 

 other.) If we expect to ascertain when a queen is lost 

 at this season, we must notice them just before dark 

 on the first warm days — because the mornings are apt 



