MASSACRE OF DRONES, 59 
it bottom upwards, and with a small stick in each hand drum upon 
the sides of the hive, until a portion of the bees leave. The hive 
should then be placed upon the stand, at least ten or twelve feet from 
where it formerly stood. Considerable additions will be made to the 
new hive for several days, as many of the bees that issue forth from 
the old hive will return to the new. It would not be advisable to 
form artificial swarms later in the season than the first of July, and 
not even then, unless the old stock is a very populous one. 
CHAPTER XXI. 
MASSACRE OF DRONES. 
Tae usual massacre of drones takes place about the last of Tuly or 
beginning of August, sometimes earlier and sometimes later, accord- 
ing to seasons and climate, generally not until after the swarming sea- 
son has past, as they may then be regarded as of no further use to the 
colony, but, as Dr. Bevan observes, useless consumers of the fruits of 
others’ labors. These massacres continue for several days, and I have 
many times watched the poor persecuted creatures, and could not but 
pity them, as they were harassed by the laborers, and were not al- 
lowed a moment's rest or a particle of food while in the hive. Some 
have supposed that their destruction has been effected by the sting of 
the workers; others that their wings are disabled, and others that it 
is through continued weariness and hunger; and, I think, from 
observation, that as many die of the latter as of either of the other 
causes, probably, a portion from each. Dr. Bevan says that at the time 
of this general massacre, not only all the drones that have undergone 
their full transformations, but every embryo, in whatever period of 
its existence, shares the same fate; the maxim of bees being to attend 
to the general welfare of the community, and to allow none to eat 
that are not useful in some way. 
