25 
^ Workhig-Bees into Queen-Bees. 
Experiment II. — This experiment, which was entirely prac- 
tical, and consisted in turning to account the result of the first 
experiment, respected the formation of artificial swarms, an ex- 
pedient, in my opinion, never to be resorted to, but in such cases 
of necessity as that I am about to detail. From the first to the 
third week of June my hives had all thrown their top-swarms ; 
but instead of throwing their second in ten or twelve days there- 
after, as is generally the case, four of them had not cast nearly 
three weeks after. This was probably owing to the unfavour- 
able state of the weather, which, by delaying the swarming, had 
furnished the reigning queen with an opportunity of putting to 
death one or two of her intended successors. In these circum- 
stances, from the crowded state of the hive, a mass of bees as 
large as a man’s head hung from the alighting-board of each 
hive ; a sight grievous to the Apiarian, as these outliers are 
quite idle. Determined to avail myself of Schirach’s and Hu- 
ber’s discoveries, I cut out of the Mirror-hive a piece of comb 
about three inches square, containing eggs and worms, and fix- 
ed it in an old hive full of empty comb. I then removed out 
of sight one of the hives which had an outlying, or rather out- 
hanging, mass on its alighting-board, instantly clapped down in 
its place on said board the empty hive, and forced the idlers to 
enter. They made a tremendous noise, and seemed disconcert- 
ed at finding, instead of the rich combs they had hitherto been 
familiar with, nothing but empty cells. This agitation was kept 
up all day by the continued arrival of the bees belonging to 
the original hive, who had been abroad when their habitation 
was changed, and who now added greatly to the population. 
At noon next'day I inspected the new establishment (a leaf-hive 
of Huber), and found, to my satisfaction, the foundations of 
three queen-cells laid in the small piece of brood-comb I had 
given them. In due time a queen was hatched, — the hive pros- 
pered, and at the end of the season I took from it four and a 
half pints of honey. Finding this trial succeed so well, I in- 
stantly fell to work with two more in similar circumstances, and 
with the same success. One of these died about a month after, 
but from causes which had no connection with the experiment ; 
the other I kept over winter, and it has now swarmed, (July 1. 
1823). 
