222 
THE ITTVE ANT) IIONET-BEE. 
Stands with a strong stock, when the bees are actively 
gathering stores ; or bees brought from a distance may be 
added to it * If it raises .a queen before she can bo 
seasonably impregnated, she may be killed, and more 
brood-comb given to them. The smallest stocks may thus 
be preserved until the drones appear, by which time they 
may be made as strong as is desired. The stocks deprived 
of their queens should be managed in the same way. By 
this device, every queenless stock, however feeble, that 
survives the Winter, may be nursed into profitable 
strength. 
A vigilant eye should be kept upon every colony that 
has not an impregnated queen; and when its queen is 
about a week old it should be examined, and if she has 
become fertile, she will usually be found supplying one of 
the central combs with eggs. If neither queen nor eggs can 
be found, and there are no certain indications that she is 
lost, the hive should be examined a few days later, for some 
queens are longer in becoming impregnated than others, 
and it is often difficult to find an unimpregnated one, on 
account of her adroit way of hiding among the bees. 
If the Apiarian relies on artificial swarming, he may 
deprive his queens of their wings, as soon as they arc im- 
pregnated.! In a large Apiary, where many swarms 
might otherwise come off together, this will greatly di- 
• If a common Live is found, In the Spring, to bo very much reduced in numbers, 
ft can bo recruited In the last two ways, provided It has a healthy quoen. Ifit has 
no queen, and Is not sufficiently strong to Justify giving It one from a weaker stock, 
the bees should be joined to another colony, and the hive reserved, with Its combs, 
for future swarms. It should, howover, be kept out of the reach of the bee-inoth, 
and before it is used again a few of tho central combs should bo broken out, to see 
that It Is not infested by worms. 
t Virgil speaks of clipping the wings of queens, to prevent them from escaping 
with a swarm. John Mills (1766) quotes the following from an account published 
of the sheep of Spain: — “The number of bee-hives kept In Spain is Incredible. I 
am almost ashamed fto give under my hand, that I knew a parish priest who had 
five thousand hives. Tho bees suck all their honey from tho aromatic flowers 
