DRONES 
287 
THE LAMENT OP THE DRONES. 
Grace Allen, Nashville, Tenn. 
No more? 
Not ever, ever more within the hive 
No more to feel its friendly shelter ’round? 
No more to share its pulsing peace, alive 
With vibrant hum of motion and of sound? 
And we so powerful-winged and light of heart 1 
Of all this life we love are we a part 
No more? 
No more. 
Not ever, ever more within the hive. 
An unimaginable end has come. 
The things are turning dead that were alive 
And all the singing voices turning dumb 
And Life herself, who one time bade us be, 
Has turned away her eyes, which we shall see 
No more. 
gin disposing of their drones, take frames 
containing drone brood from the colonies 
having the best queens to breed from, and 
place them in a strong colony. The colony 
should be made and kept queenless as long 
as it is desirable to have drones in the 
yard; or, if not made queenless, should be 
given one pint or more of syrup (two parts 
of water to one of sugar) every day as 
long as drones are needed. The feeding 
must be kept up, for bees are very easily 
discouraged; and if a stoppage occurs in 
the daily supplies they will not hesitate to 
pull the young drones out of their cells 
and sacrifice them without mercy. 
DRONES FROM DRONE-LAYERS. 
Queen-breeders find that one or more 
drone-layers of good stock, rearing fully 
developed drones, if supplied with plenty 
of worker brood, will furnish a fine lot of 
nice drones in and out of season; but 
drones from laying workers, or from queens 
that have never been fertilized, probably 
And this the end ? 
No end but this for those uncounted days 
Of banqueting, or those mad hours of bliss 
We went careening, careless thru the ways 
Of miracle and light? No end but this? 
No end but this. No proud sustaining thought 
Of deed with rapture or with patience wrought— 
No end but this. 
More and more 
The dripping night that stalks without the hive 
Draws round us dread and ghostly, grim and 
stark; 
Within, the deepest shadows are alive 
With warmth and fragrance, and the very dark 
Dreams day to come. But tho the great sun burns 
A million dawns awake, the day returns 
To us, no more—no more. 
should be avoided. Drones from queens 
that have once laid worker eggs, and then 
failed, are as good as the drones from any 
queen. 
DESTRUCTION OP DRONES IN THE FALL. 
This does not necessarily occur in the 
fall, but may take place at any time in the 
summer. Drones have been killed off be¬ 
tween apple bloom and white clover, only 
because supplies ceased, causing the bees 
to become discouraged and give up swarm¬ 
ing for the time being. There is no way 
in which one can tell so well that the yield 
of honey has ceased as by the behavior of 
the bees toward their drones. When, in 
the midst of the honey season, a worker is 
seen buzzing along on the back of a drone 
that seems to be doing his best to get away 
from the hive, it may be concluded that the 
yield of honey is failing. So far as known, 
bees do not sting drones, but they some¬ 
times pretend to do so. It is probable that 
it is only a feint to drive them away. The 
