THE HONEY HARVEST. 49 



destroyed. These are my objections to that system of bee man- 

 agement ; and I put it to every person who has practised stori- 

 fying to say whether they are not well founded." 



It sometimes, but very rarely, happens, that a swarm is almost 

 wholly, if not altogether, composed of an entirely new genera- 

 tion of bees, but usually old and young go forth together. You 

 may distinguish the young from the old by the intensity of their 

 coloring, the latter being of a deeper red. The swarm is usually 

 led forth by a young queen ; but at all events the bees never swarm 

 unless led by a queen, and sometimes by two or even three. Jn 

 this case the supernumerary sovereigns are put to death by the 

 workers. Sometimes, indeed, instead of the supernumerary queens 

 being destroyed, the swarm divides, and a portion follows each 

 monarch, and sometimes the queens themselves do battle for the 

 throne. The destruction of the supernumeraries by the workers 

 is, however, the most common case. 



Battles also will frequently occur in consequence of a swarm 

 seizing upon a habitation already occupied by other bees, or two 

 swarms simultaneously selecting a similar place of abode. The 

 attack is said to be usually begun by the queens, with what truth, 

 however, I am unprepared to say. 



Having now suggested all that occurs to me interesting, or 

 profitable for you to know, on the subject of swarming, we shall 

 leave the bees at work, and in the next chapter presume matters 

 ripe and ready for the " honey harvest." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THK HONEY HARVEST. 



Those who possess collateral boxes may begin taking a box or 

 a bell glass very early in the season, indeed even so early as May 

 or June ; this must be, of course, dependent on the state of af- 

 fairs, and on their own discretion. Those who keep their bees in 

 the capped hive, may also get a cap full of honey in or about 

 the middle of June — I do not call this the " honey harvest." I 

 allude to the grand deprivation that should take place in the be- 

 ginning or middle of Aagust, ere commencing other operations 

 still to be explained. 

 3 



