176 rORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



BEES DO THE WORK MOST NEEDED. 



While the bees that emerge to-morrow may do no 

 field-work for sixteen days, they begin housework at a 

 very tender age — housework that would have to be con- 

 tinued by older bees if this brood were taken away. As 

 fast as one of these young bees is ready to begin house- 

 work, it takes the place of an older bee, which can now 

 go afield. I know that, as a general rule, the different 

 departments of work are done by bees of certain ages, but 

 I also know that bees accommodate themselves to cir- 

 cumstances. I have seen bees at five days old carrying 

 in pollen because there were no older bees in the hive to 

 perform that duty, and we all know that in early spring 

 nursing and housework are done by bees several months 

 old. 



So it is reasonable to believe that at least to a certain 

 extent the necessities of the case rather than the matter 

 of absolute age decides what duties a bee shall perform ; 

 and the logical conclusion from that is that the larger 

 force of bees wc have in a hive the more storing we shall 

 have, even if a good many of the bees be quite young. 



Without, perhaps, giving any satisfactory reason for 

 it, I am also quite of the opinion that better work is gen- 

 erally done when bees are allowed to go right along rear- 

 ing brood at their own sweet will ; for toward the close 

 of the harvest they, of their own accord, curtail work in 

 that direction. 



NON-SWARMING PREFERRED TO FORCED. 



While I yield to no one in my appreciation of the 

 advantages of forced swarming over natural swarming, 

 I believe that the advantages of no swarming whatever 

 over forced swarming are as great as the advantages of 

 forced over natural swarming. 



