LOSS OP TUB QUEEN 257 



601. We have yet, however, to describe under what 

 circumstances the majority of hives become queenless. 

 More queens, whose loss cannot be supplied by the bees, per- 

 ish when they leave the hive to meet the drones, than in all 

 other ways. After the departure of the first swarm, the 

 mother-stock and all the after-swarms have young queens 

 which must leave the hive for impregnation ; their larger 

 size and slower flight make them a more tempting prey to 

 birds, while others are dashed, by sudden gusts of wind, 

 against some hard object, or blown into the water : for, 

 with all their queenly dignity, they are not exempt from 

 mishaps common to the humblest of their race. 



502. In spite of their caution to mark the position and 

 appearance of their hahitation, the young queens frequently 

 make a fatal mistake, and are destroyed, when attempting to 

 enter the wrong hive. 



This accounts for the fact that ignorant bee-keepers, with 

 forlorn and rickety hives, no two of which look just alike, 

 are sometimes more successful than those whose hives are 

 of the best construction. The former — unless their hives 

 are excessively crowded — lose but few queens, while the 

 latter lose them in almost exact proportion to the taste and 

 skill which induced them to make their hives of uniform 

 size, shape and color (356). 



603. We first learned the full extent of the danger of 

 crowded Apiaries, in the Summer of 1854. To protect our 

 hives against extremes of heat and cold, they were ranged, 

 side by side, over a trench, so that, through ventilators in 

 their bottom-boards, they might receive, in Summer, a 

 cooler, and in Winter, a much warmer air, than the exter- 

 nal atmosphere. By this arrangement^ — ^which failed en- 

 tirely to answer its design — many of our colonies became 

 queenless, and we soon ascertained under what circumstan- 

 ces young queens are ordinarily lost. 



From the great uniformity of the hives in size, shape, 

 17 



