148 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



taken in transferring when there is a limited supply 

 of honey, as the elaboration of wax necessary to 

 fasten the combs, causes the bees to consume a 

 much larger amount of honey than would otherwise 

 be required, hence the necessity of feeding them 

 under such circumstances. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 

 TO REAR QUEENS TO SUPPY ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 



It is a well attested fact, that if a queen is removed 

 from a colony of bees when they are in possession of 

 eggs recently deposited in worker cells, or if they 

 have larva not more than three or four clays old, they 

 will proceed to rear young queens as soon as they 

 discover the loss of their old one. To guard against 

 accident, they will usually rear from two to ten, and 

 occasionally as many as fifteen or twenty young 

 queens. 



The queen cells are usually suspended from the 

 edge of a comb or some projecting point. They com- 

 mence by cutting out the partitions between two or 

 three worker cells, and form a cup similar in size 

 and shape to that of an acorn ; in this they deposit 

 a substance similar to jelly, at first of a light or 

 whitish color, but afterward turning to a brown or 

 reddish. This is called royal jelly. On this they 



