BEE PASTURAGE. 93 



NO TEST OF THE PBESBNOB OP TUB QUEEN. 



It is asserted that " if a hive loses its queen, no j:)ollen 

 is collected." Also, "that such quantities are sometimes 

 collected, and so many cells are filled, that too little room 

 is left for brood, and the stock rapidly dwindles in conse- 

 quence." The first of thece assertions has been ofifered as 

 a test to determine the presence of a queen. My bees 

 have such a habit of doing wrong, that it is no test what- 

 ever. I think I can explain the mystery of a stock 

 containing an unusual quantity of bee-bread with the 

 honey, and show that instead of this being the cause of a 

 scarcity of bees, it is the effect. Stocks and sometimes 

 swarms lose their queen in the swarming season — (see par- 

 ticulars in chap, x,) when, instead of remaining idle, they 

 collect the usual quantity of pollen and honey. There 

 being no larvae to consume the pollen, the consequence is, 

 more than half the breeding cells will contain it ; they 

 will be packed about two-thirds full, and finished out with 

 honey. I have known large families to be left under such 

 circumstances, and about all the cells in the hive were thus 

 occupied. Whereas, in a stock containing a queen, and 

 rearing brood, a portion of the combs wiU be used for this 

 purpose until the flowers fail, when such comb wiU be 

 found empty. In order to ascertain whether this extra 

 quantity of the bee-bread was so very detrimental, I have 

 introduced into such hive in the fall, a family with a queen, 

 wintered them in it, and watched, their prosperity another 

 year, and never found them unprofitable on that account. 

 I am so well satisfied of this that whenever I now have a 

 hive in such a situation, I make it a rule to introduce a 

 colony with queen. 



It is generally calculated that when medium sized hives 

 are full, about seven-eighths of the cells are of the proper 

 size for raising workers ; the remainder, except a few de- 

 signed for queens, are of the size for drones. 



