148 siiner's americav 



" Now, do you perceive how regular each comb is 

 constructed, — ^just so far apart, and every comb about 

 one inch thick. Every comb here would be used by 

 the queen, and three times as many bees would be 

 brought into existence in this hive as in that. Here are 

 the drone-combs on one side, a little thicker than the 

 worker-combs. Let us examine the other hive. — Not 

 a single drone-comb !" 



" Well, now, I will give up. I thought that I had got 

 a kind of hive that would be just the thing. Ah ! well, 

 it's of no use to try any of the new inventions, now- 

 a-days. I see, sir, what you say must be so — I see — I 

 see." 



" Well, that is not all, sir, I'll lay a wager there is no 

 queen in this hive." 



"No queen?" 



" Aye ! no queen." 



" What next ! — John ! John ! (calling at the top of 

 his lungs,) if you see old ' Genius' go past to day, tell 

 him I want to see him. Don't let him go past, anyhow. 

 Now, sir, be so good as to tell me — what was it ? Oh ! 

 the — the queen, that's it — the queen — No queen, did you 

 say ?" 



"Exactly so. You see that these bees are not at 

 work bringing in pellets of farina, or what you call bee- 

 bread. That hive is not so. See how busy they are ! 

 There come half a dozen with farina at once; but 

 you see nothing of that here. The fact is, sir, that 

 when you took off the two upper boxes, the queen was 

 in one of them, and on being driven out of the box with 



