236 ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



destruction of one of them. The mode they adopted to ac- 

 complish it was of the most deliberate and cold-blooded kind. 

 A circle of bees kept one queen stationary, while another 

 party dragged the other up to her, so that their heads nearly 

 touched, and then the bees stood back, leaving a fair field for 

 the combatants, in which one was to gain her laurels, and 

 the other to die ! The battle was fierce and sanguinary. 

 They grappled each other, and like expert wrestlers, strove 

 to inflict the fatal blow, by some sudden or adroit movement. 

 But for some moments the parties seemed equally matched ; 

 no advantage could be gained on either side. The bees stood 

 looking calmly on the dreadful aflray, as though they them- 

 selves had been the heroes of a hundred wars. But the 

 battle, like ali others, had its close ; one fell upon the field, 

 and was immediately taken by the workers and carried out 

 of the hive. By this time, the bees which had swarmed, 

 made the discovery that their queen was missing, and al- 

 though they had been hived without any trouble, came 

 rushing back, but not in season to witness the fatal battle, and 

 the fall of their poor slain queen, who should have gone forth 

 with them to seek a future home." 



The unwillingness of a colony deprived of its queen, to 

 receive another, until after some time, must always be borne 

 in mind, by those who make artificial swarms. About 24 

 hours must elapse, before it will be safe to introduce a strange 

 mother into a queenless hive ; and even then, if she is not 

 fertile, she runs a great risk of being destroyed. To prevent 

 such losses, I adopt the Gorman plan of confining the queen, 

 in what they call, " a queen cage." A small hole, about as 

 large as a thimble, may be made in a block, and covered 

 over with wire gauze, or any kind of perforated cover, so 

 that when the queen is confined in it, and placed in the hive, 



