78 TREATISE ON THE 
The fruitfulness of the Mother Bee is in- 
deed astonishing. [It has been computed 
that the numbers produced in a hive by one 
queen, during the laying season, amount to 
100,900, and I am satisfied the computation 
is correct. In the beginning of the year it is 
a tolerably good stock hive which possesses 
a population of 2000 or 3000. Yet that same 
hive shall, in June, throw off swarms amount- 
ing to 40,000 or 50,000; in many cases the 
first swarm itself, and in some even the cast 
or second swarm throws off a colony of 
10,000 or 12,000, and still, at the end of 
harvest, this original stock hive shall exhi- 
bit a population of 18,000 or 20,000. Add 
to all this, in some instances, though rare, a 
first swarm throws off two colonies. 
Before depositing her eggs, the queen care- 
fully examines the cell, inserting her head 
into it and keeping it there for a second or 
two, and, as already stated, after having laid 
a few eggs on one side, and with a view 
probably of economizing heat, supplies the 
corresponding cells on that side. Her im- 
