74 MINER S AMERICAN 



In the foregoing calculation, I have made an allowance 

 of 2,000 bees, as being in the parent hive, on the opening 

 of spring; and consequently, 10,000 is the number I 

 compute, as belonging to the parent hive, after the issue 

 of the second swarm. The above aggregate of 25,000 

 bees from one queen in a single season is moderate. 

 If we take into consideration the number of bees pro- 

 duced by the queen in the second swarm, and also that 

 of the queen left in the parent hive, both of which are 

 the indirect production of the parent queen, through her 

 own progeny, we should then swell the grand total to 

 about 40,000 ; allowing the said two queens to produce 

 15,000 ! 



The above estimate is made on the supposition that 

 two swarms are sent off, and the old queen goes with 

 the first, as she ever does. 



If the family had been in a large hive in which no 

 swarming had taken place, the result would have been 

 the same as in the first case ; for the reason, that the 

 number of bees sent off in both swarms, viz; — 11,000, 

 and the 6,000 that the queen produces with the first 

 swarm, would all have been residents of the original 

 hive, together with the 8,000 produced, and left in the 

 parent hive, according to the foregoing estimate, 

 making in all, as before stated, 25,000. If no swarms 

 are sent off, we lose the 15,000 bees produced by the 

 two queens in charge of them. A queen possesses the 

 power of producing a certain number of eggs in a 

 season ; and whether she remain in the parent hive, or 

 sally out with a swarm, it does not affect the aggregate 



