220 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



Permit me again to impress upon the minds of 

 all bee-keepers who make artificial swarms, or even 

 change combs, as has just been described, the import- 

 ance of keeping enough bees upon the brood-combs 

 to keep the brood warm, and to nurse and bring it to 

 maturity ; otherwise the brood will inevitably perish, 

 and ere long become a putrid mass, entailing loss and 

 disappointment upon the owner. With a reasonable 

 degree of caution, however, no danger need be appre- 

 hended. 



CHAPTER XV. 



LOSS OF QUEENS. 



A great many stocks of bees are lost every year, 

 originating in the loss of a queen when the colony 

 was perhaps pretty strong, but destitute of eggs from 

 which to rear another ; the inevitable result of which 

 is, that in a few weeks, or at most a few months, 

 they will be wasted away by death and lost by acci- 

 dent. It is astonishing how soon even a strong, 

 populous colony will dwindle down to the last dozen 

 bees, when there is no queen to replenish the hive. 

 Quinby says : " I doubt whether the largest and best 

 family could be made to exist six months without a 

 queen for their renewal, except perhaps through the 

 winter." I doubt if they could exist even three 

 months, in the summer, without a queen. So fast do 

 they waste away when they become weak and unable 

 to protect the combs from moths, or to destroy the 



