198 LOSS OF QUEENS. 



on the whole, it is no doubt better to rear a thousand un- 

 necessarily, than to lack one in time of need. Therefore, 

 let us be content with the present arrangement, inasmuch 

 as we could not better 'it, and probably, should we try, 

 would " so fix the thing that it would not go at all." 



But what is the use of drones in hives that do not 

 swarm, and do not intend to do so, as in very large ones, 

 or those situated in a large room ? In such circumstances 

 they seldom produce swarms, yet as regularly as the return 

 of the sum^mer, a brood of drones appears. What are they 

 for ? Suppose the old queen in such hive dies, leaving eggs 

 or young larvae, and a young queen is reared to supply her 

 place. How is she to be impregnated without the drones ? 

 Perhaps they are taught that whenever they can afford it 

 they should have some on hand to be ready for an emer- 

 gency. I have already said that when bees are numerous, 

 and honey abundant, they never fail to provide them. A 

 crippled queen hived with a swarm, or even in an old stock, 

 is generally replaced by one that is perfect, within a month 

 or two. 



WHEN THE LOSS OOCUES. 



Whenever I have witnessed this excursion of the queen, 

 it has taken place a little after the middle of the day, when 

 the drones were out in the greatest numbers. At such 

 times, there is rather more than usual commotion among 

 the workers. I have watched their return — their absence 

 varying from three minutes to half an hour — and have seen 

 them hover around their own hive, apparently in doubt 

 whether they belonged in that, or the next ; in a few in- 

 stances they have actually settled on the neighboring hive, 

 and would have perished there, but for my assistance. Thus 

 we see that queens are lost on these occasions, from some 

 cause ; and part, perhaps most of them, by entering the 

 wrong hive ; if so, it is another good reason for not setting 



