FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 187 



that this interim without any laying may be an im- 

 portant part of the treatment. I don't know. 



SOME FAILURES. 



At any rate, in the first two seasons of using the 

 plan, there was no case of any colony making any 

 further preparation for swarming after being thus 

 treated. The third season (1902) everything did not 

 work so smoothly, but possibly the treatment was not 

 fairly administered in all cases. Some of the colonies 

 did not take kindly to the foundation, and in a few cases 

 it looked as if they might have swarmed out rather than 

 to use the foundation. In one case they built comb and 

 started a brood-nest in the vacant part, leaving the foun- 



Fig. 62.— Little Work-table. 



dation untouched. But there was some excuse for th is, 

 as the foundation was weather-beaten and hard. 



