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BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
soon circulate singly upon their combs, gathering in 
from outlying parts the stores that their renewed 
activities demand. The slain, during the fight with 
relentless frosts, are carried forth, and water, for 
thinning down the inspissated honey to fit it for 
brood-feeding, is eagerly sought by little gatherers, 
who often venture to face the yet chilly wind at 
the cost of their lives. Now the first spring blossoms 
open their dainty cups, and the industrious creatures 
fly in the sunny hours with impassioned earnestness, 
bearing home upon their thighs high-heaped pollen 
masses for the nourishment of their dependent young. 
The fruit-trees at length put on their spring dress, 
and countless blossoms yield abundant food. The 
old workers receive the aid of their recently-hatched 
sisters, and honey shows its glistening face in many 
a cell. The queen is beginning to put forth all her 
power, and population and wealth increase together. 
Should prosperity thus flow on, there will be no place 
found in which to bestow their goods, and the neces- 
sity for colonisation at no very distant date begins 
to be recognised. 
Eggs have hitherto been deposited in none save 
worker cells, but, with a division of the colony, males 
will be needed to fecundate the young queens. The 
larger cells are, in consequence, sought out, and soon big 
drone grubs are the object of the attentive care of the 
nurses. The spring production of drones may thus be 
accepted as one of the signs of prospective swarming. 
Ere long, the queen finds barely sufficient cells to 
receive her abundant eggs, and now preparations are 
started for supplying the place of the old mother, who 
