BREEDING. 
83 
swarm, (this is the time to avoid destroying the 
worker-brood ; the particulars will be given in another 
place.) I have transferred a great many, and never 
failed to find a few drones about ready to leave the 
combs. Whether the swarm had left the last of May, 
or middle of July, there was no difference, they were 
on hand. 
A very early swarm in good seasons, will often fill 
the hive, and send out an issue in from four to six 
weeks : the usual amount of drone-brood may be 
found in these cases. The following circumstance 
would appear to indicate that all the eggs are alike, 
and if they are laid in drone-cells, the bees give the 
proper food and make drones; if in worker-cells, 
workers, just as they make a queen from a worker- 
egg, when put in a royal cell. 
In a glass hive, one sheet of comb next the glass, 
and parallel with it, was full size ; about three-quarters 
of this sheet was worker-cells, the remainder dronc- 
cells. The family had been rather small, but now 
had increased to a full swarm ; a few drones had ma- 
tured in the middle of the hive. It was about the 
middle of June, 1850, when I discovered the bees on 
this outside sheet, preparing it, as I thought, for 
brood, by cutting off the cells to the proper length. 
They had been used for storing honey, and were much 
too long, being about an inch and a half deep. In a 
day or two after I saw a few eggs in both worker and 
drone-cells; four or five days afterwards, on opening 
the door, I found her “majesty” engaged in deposit- 
ing eggs in the drone cells. Nearly every one already 
