OP MANAGING BEES. '49 



from their habitation to the next adjoining hive. They im- 

 mediately wheel about and run home again, and thus con- 

 tinue, sometimes fo*several days, m the greatest confusion, 

 •constantly replenishing their neighbor's hive, by enlarging 

 their numbei-s, and at the same time reducing their own, 

 .until there is not a single occupant left ; and, remarkable as 

 it is, they leave every particle of their stores for their owner, 

 or the depredations of the moth. In these cases no young 

 brood are ever found in the combs they have left. 



Colonies lose their queens more frequently during the 

 swarming season than any other. 



In the summer of 1830, we lost three good stocks of bees 

 in consequence of their losing their queens, one of which 

 was lost soon after the first swarming, the two others not 

 many days after the second swarming, — all of which mani- 

 fested similar actions, and ended in the same results, which 

 are more particularly explained in Chapters II. and VII. 



The queen, when lost in swarming, is easily found, unless 

 the wind is so strong as to have blown her a considerable 

 distance. 



A few bees are usually found with her, which probably 

 serve as her aids, and greatly assist the apiarian in spying 

 her out. She is frequently found near the ground, on a spire 

 of grass, the fence, or any place most convenient for her to 

 alight, when her strength fails her. We once had quite a 

 search for her majesty, without much apparent success. At 

 the same time there were flying about us a dozen or more 

 common workers. At last her royal highness was discover- 

 ed, concealed from our observation in a fold of our shirt- 

 sleeve. We then returned her to her colony, which had al^ 

 ready found their way home to their parent stock. When 

 queens are lost in swarming, and the bees return to the 

 5 



