KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



345 



MORE ABOUT THE HONEY BEE. 



Having unfortunately, Mr. Editor, a good 

 deal of leisure time just now, I will, if you will 

 allow me space in your Journal, endeavor to call 

 to mind a few observations made last summer, 

 and put them together for the amusement and 

 edification of your readers. 



In so far as I can recollect, the spring of 1852 

 was the worst, and the swarms the latest, I ever 

 knew. My first swarm did not come off till the 

 4th of July. About Easter, the old stocks had 

 collected a considerable quantity of honey, but 

 afterwards it became very much reduced. In or- 

 dinary seasons, I never expect the stock of honey 

 to increase after July ; but last year was an ex- 

 ception ; and although up to about the middle of 

 the month scarcely any had been collected since 

 Easter, I think I had more, on the whole, from 

 the same quantity of bees, than I ever remember 

 to have had before. It was remarkable that, while 

 this accumulation was going on, there were but 

 very few flowers in the neighborhood ; and fre- 

 quently have I walked through the garden and 

 pastures without seeing a single bee on the 

 flowers. From repeated observations I found that 

 nearly the whole of their store was collected 

 from the leaves of the large trees, of which there 

 is no lack in this neighborhood. 



At this time, there was an unusually large 

 quantity of honeydew, produced, as I suppose, 

 by the check which the trees had experienced 

 from the unkindly ^weather at the time of their 

 early growth. I have on a former occasion stated 

 that bees will often hang out and refuse to work 

 in the glasses, although there may be abundance 

 of food near them ; and will at once commence 

 work if the glasses are removed, and a hive placed 

 in their stead. To test this again, I took part of 

 the glasses off a hive, and covered the remainder 

 with a box hive similar to the under one. The 

 bees set to work, and so arranged their combs 

 as to build the glasses in. I was aware that I 

 should have some difficulty in taking them off, 

 but having counted the cost I let them proceed. 



The time having arrived when I wished to 

 see how matters stood, I proceeded to separate 

 the two hives. True enough, it was a difficult 

 operation ; but I succeeded in doing it, and ma- 

 naged to get rid of all the bees except about as 

 many as would fill a common hen's egg-shell. 

 These clung together ; and so determined were 

 they not to quit, that I had to separate them by 

 force, when I found a queen in the middle ; and 

 I have no doubt that they were separate colonies 

 working through the same entrance, as the bottom 

 stock never appeared to miss the queen, nor could 

 I prevail on her majesty to enter it. 



On the 8th of July I was informed that some 

 stray bees had just then taken possession of a 

 hollow tree : the hole where they entered was 

 about thirty feet from the ground. I was anxious 

 to possess them, and having a glass hive which I 

 use for amusement, I determined to dislodge them. 

 This was a difficult task, and took me the whole 

 of the day till nearly dark ; and then it was quite 

 uncertain if I possessed the queen, for I did not 

 see her during the whole of the time I was em- 

 ployed. Having so far succeeded, when they had 

 become reconciled I took them home, and placed 



them in the window of an upstairs room, where I 

 could easily observe their movements. In a few 

 days I had the satisfaction to see her majesty 

 there, surveying the works and laying eggs for 

 the production of a young family. 



I will just observe here, that the progress of 

 the inmates of this hive are usually noted 

 down one or more times daily, lor future re- 

 ference ; but unfortunately, I cannot now tell 

 where to lay my hand on the book — a circum- 

 stance 1 much regret, as what I am about to state 

 will lose much of its interest for want of the 

 dates. Breeding and storing went on well for a 

 considerable time, but, for some now forgotten 

 reason, I omitted to visit them for two or three 

 days ; when, a friend wishing to see her majesty, 

 I opened the door of the room to gratify his curio- 

 sity, and was much surprised at the discordant 

 sounds which proceeded from the hive, instead of 

 that delightful harmony always observable in a 

 thriving stock of bees. 



In vain did we look for her majesty — all was 

 confusion and uproar — she had either abdicated 

 her throne, or death had made her his prey. The 

 once loyal subjects, formerly acting in concert 

 with each other, and regular in all their move- 

 ments, now gave way to despair, and seemed to 

 vie with each other in the destruction of that 

 work which they had so cordially united to con- 

 struct. Devastation seemed now to be the order 

 of the day. Without a ruler or a guide — no one 

 " greater than the rest" — all appeared to go the 

 wrong way, nothing but want and ruin staring 

 them in the face ; for they had commenced unseal- 

 ing their stores, as if resolved to live well and easy 

 while it lasted — none thinking it worth his while 

 to add to the stock. 



This went on for two, or perhaps three days 

 after I discovered it, when, on a sudden, order 

 was restored ; as if some cunning old bee, not 

 willing to give up all for lost till he was obliged, 

 had been examining every cell, till at length he 

 had found one containing larva apparently capable 

 of being worked up into some nobler form than that 

 of a common laborer — something worthy of more 

 honor than the general mass of the working 

 classes — and having communicated it to the rest, 

 they desisted from their work of spoliation to try 

 what might be done to save their partly ruined 

 home. 



From the time I first missed the queen, I was 

 often watching them to see what would be the 

 result ; and wlie.nl perceived order was restored, I 

 earnestly hoped to have the opportunity of seeing 

 that which I had only heard of before, viz., the 

 transmutation of a working to a queen bee. My 

 hive is only wide enough for one row of comb, 

 so that I can easily perceive all that is going on. 

 In constructing a royal cell, it is commonly done 

 on the edge of the comb ; but here, being only one 

 comb, it could not, or, if it could, it would have 

 been useless, as there was no queen to deposit 

 the egg. In order, therefore, to give it the appear- 

 ance of royalty, and make it commodious for what 

 was going on inside, it was necessary to construct 

 it on the flat surface, about the middle of the 

 comb, over a cell from which was to issue the 

 young princess. This was difficult, as there was 

 barely room between the comb and the glass. 



Two cells were operated on at the same time, 



