MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 19 



kingdom, controlliug all the activities inside the hive, and leading the colony 

 whithersoever they may go, is nnqnestionably mere fiction. In the hive, as in 

 the world, individuals are valued fol- what they are worth. The queen, as the 

 most important individual, is regarded with solicitude, and her removal or loss 

 noted with consternation, as the welfare of the colony is threatened ; yet, let 

 the queen become useless, and she is despatched with the same absence of emotion 

 that characterizes the destruction of the drones when they have become super- 

 numeraries. It is very doubtful if emotion or sentimentality are ever moving 

 forces among the lower animals. There are probably certain natural principles 

 that govern in the economy of the hive, and aught that conspires against, or 

 tends to intercept the action of these principles, becomes an enemy to the bees. 

 All are interested, and doubtless more united than is generally believed, in a 

 desire to promote the free action of these principles. No doubt the principle of 

 antagonism among the various bees has been overrated. Even the drones when 

 they are being killed off in the autumn make a sickly show of defense, as much 

 as to say, the welfare of the colony demands that such worthless vagrants should 

 be exterminated; "so mote it be, go ahead." The statement, too, that there 

 is often serious antagonism between the queen and workers, as to the destruc- 

 tion or preservation of inchoate queens, yet in the cell, is a matter which may 

 well be investigated. It is most probable that what tends most for the prosper- 

 ity of- the colony is well understood by all, and without doubt there is harmonious 

 action among all the denizens of the hive, to foster that which will advance the 

 _general welfare, or to make war on whatever may tend to interfere with it. If 

 the course of any of the bees seems wavering and inconsistent, we may rest 

 .assured that circumstances have changed, and that could^we perceive the bear- 

 ing of all the surrounding conditions, all would appear consistent and harmon- 

 ious. 



■ CHAPTER IV. 

 SWAEMISTG, OE NATURAL METHOD OF INCREASE. 



The natural method by which an increase of colonies among bees is secured 

 is of great interest, and though it has been closely observed^ and accurately 

 studied for a long period, and has given rise to theories which were as often 

 absurd as sound, yet, even now, it is a fertile field for investigation, and will 

 surely repay any who may come with the true spirit of inquiry, for there is 

 much concerning it which is involved in mystery. Why do bees swarm at 

 unseemly times? Why is the swarming spirit so excessive at times and so 

 restrained at other seasons? These and other questions we are too apt to refer 

 to erratic tendencies of the bees, when there is no question but that they follow 

 naturally upon certain conditions perhaps intricate and obscure, which it is the 

 province of the investigator to discover. Who shall be first to unfold the prin- 

 -ciples which govern in these as in all other actions of the bees? 



In the spring or early summer, when the hive has become populous and 

 storing very active, the queen, as if conscious that a home could be overcrowded, 

 -and forseeing such danger, commences to deposit drone eggs in drone cells, 



