108 FRHATISE ON THE 
first swarm is frequently so large that the 
hive seems altogether deserted ; yet, in eight 
or ten days afterwards, the population is in 
such abundance as to be able to send forth 
another colony. But we must remember 
that swarms depart only during the warm- 
est part of the day, when a full third of the 
workers are busily engaged in the fields, 
these, returning home, resume their labors, 
and carry on the necessary operations of the 
hive. Besides, the queen has left an im- 
mense quantity of brude of all ages, which 
is soon hatched, and which renders the po- 
pulation as great after swarming as before. 
Thus the hive is perfectly capable of afford- 
ing a second colony, without being too much 
impoverished. he third and fourth swarms 
weaken it more sensibly, but the inhabitants 
always remain in sufficient numbers to pre- 
serve the course of their labors uninterrupt- 
ed, and the losses are soon replaced by the 
great fecundity of the queen. When the 
swarming is over in any particular hive, the 
new queen, on the departure or death of the 
