Diseases of Bees, etc. 
73 
happen, the mortality amongst these insects is 
so great, that during the summer, the strongest 
and most prosperous hive will be completely 
depopulated in less than a month. 
Excepting in the winter, the season when the 
bees leave the hive but little, the average life of 
a worker does not exceed six weeks. It ought 
not, therefore, to be a matter of astonishment 
that a single queen bee is reckoned to lay 50,000 
eggs a year ; for, taking into account the 
number of times the eggs are laid, and the 
number of cells in which they are deposited, 
a still higher figure will be reached. 
As we have already said, if the loss of the 
queen takes place at a season when there are 
drones in the hives, or when drones are in process 
of being hatched, take a piece of comb containing 
brood at different stages of maturity, and having 
in it eggs not yet brought to perfection; place 
this in the hive and the colony will be preserved. 
If, on the other hand, the loss of the queen 
takes place at a period when there is no brood 
in the hives, the only way to save the stock is 
by uniting it to another. 
In order to effect this, a small quantity of 
syrup, or liquid honey, as we have indicated 
