bke-keeper's manual. 67 



drones within the hive, and consequently find it con- 

 venient to make out as plausible a story as the case will 

 admit of; but they state, what is not a fact. If the 

 thousand or more drones of a hive, each felt a natural 

 aifection for the queen, she would be so harrassed, that 

 she would not be able to attend to her natural duties.. 

 The drones pay not the least regard to a queen, any 

 more than to a worker. They remain almost motion- 

 less in the centre of the hive, until the middle of the day, 

 when instinct teaches them to depart, as I have already 

 related. This is a wise enactment of nature, in order 

 to preserve harmony within the hive. But no sooner 

 does the drone ascend in his aerial flight, than the in- 

 stinct of his nature is developed, and he then manifests 

 a desire to meet his royal mistress. 



It is with reluctance that I feel myself compelled to 

 draw my remarks to a close, on this subject, which I 

 consider one of the deepest interest in the history of the 

 bee, to make room for other matter of importance ; and 

 if at any time in the progress of this work, 1 shall fail 

 to meet the reader's wishes, in the description of any 

 branch of my subject, on the score of general details, I 

 trust I shall be excused, since the subject, in all its vari- 

 ous phases and bearings, is too vast for an ordinary 

 volume like this. 



