Phelps' bee-keeper's chart; being a brief practical treatise on the instinct, habits and management of the honey-bee, in all its various branches ..
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THE RESULTS OF MANY YEARS’ PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE, TO RENDER BEE-KEEPING LESS DIFFICULT, AND AT THE SAME TIME MORE SURE, PROFITABLE AND PLEASANT THAN IT HAS FORMERLY BEEN. BY E. W. PHELPS, INVENTOR AND PATENTEE OF THE OHIO COMBINATION BEEHIVE NEW YORK: A. 0, MOORE, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER, (LATE 0. M. SAXTON & ©0.,) NO. 140 FULTON STREET. 185.8. E. W. PHELPS, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the of Massachusetts. €. 0. JENKINS, PRINTER AND 6TKEREOTYPRR, Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by District CONTENTS PAGE. PREFACE, : ; 2 : = . 2 5 Cuap. I.—Introduction, . : : ; , ‘ gy Tl.—The Queen Bee, : ‘ ; LO III.—The Operation of Laying, - : : 11 IV.—The Development of the Brood, 12 V.—The Working Bee, 15 ViI.—tThe Drone, ‘ 17 Vil.—Longevity of Bees. = aneiey of the Quen. : 19 VIfL—The Apiary.—Influence of the morning sun beneficial.— 22 Out-door Apiary, 1X.—Hives.—Bee-Hives— Weeks’ Veungut Hive aaa ifying and Subtended Hives——Bevan’s Cross-Bar Hive.— Collateral Hives—Nutt’s Collateral Hive. —Miner’s Hquilateral Cross-Bar Hive. X.—Formation of Swarms, 2 XI.—Symptoms prior to Sw arming. Cera ane to a se- cond Swarm, XII.—Hiving Swarms. apes of Hives for the sagepitin of Swarms, XIII.-—Artiticial clustering aiaape or Kiehes, XIV.—Hiver, XV.—Different swarms sine XVL—Uniting second or weak swarms, : XVIL—Reunion of the parent stock with a dedoad or third swarm, XVIII.—Equalizing Colonies. er Sees saint of Bees of all ages, XIX.—The conversion of the Egg or Larva of a worker to a Queen, é 3 XX —Formation of Artificial eaiuns 5 (3) 56 57 iv CONTENTS. Cuap. XXI.—Massacre of Drones, : é XXII.—Driving or dislodging Bees, : : XXIII.—Spring Management, . :. XXIV.—Summer Management, :. XXV.—Fall Management, : :. XXVI.—Wintering Bees, : 2 ° XXVIL—Feeding Bees, . : ° XXVII.—Wax made from Howey, : ° XXIX.— Architecture of Bees, . 5 XXX.—Sight, . , : 2 ° XXXI.—Pollen or Bee-Bread, . “. XX XII.—Propolis, , : = : XXXIUI.—Pasturage, : : -. XXXIV.—Purchasing Bees, . ; 5 XXXV.—Transporting Bees, XXXVI.—Bees in large towns or cities, XXXVIL—How the Bees may be driven from —" XXXVIII.—V entilation, . p XXXIX.—Disease of Bees and Broil XL.——Tools for cutting Combs.—Pruning, XLI.—To extract Honey from the Combs, XLII.—Bees-Wax, , ; XLIII.—Bee Dress, XLIV.—Cure for Bee Stings, XLV.—Salt and Water necessary, XLVI.—Remarks, PREFACE. — In presenting to the community this brief treatise on the manage- ment of the Honey Bee, and the construction of Bee-Hives, the au- thor is not vain enough to suppose that it will meet the views of every Bee-keeper in all respects, for he is well aware that there is scarcely any subject on which such a divexsity of opinion exists, as on the form and size of bee-hives, and the general management of bees. But from the universal satisfaction the Ohio Combination Bee- Hive has given, during the last four or five seasons, in several hun- dred instances, where it has had a thorough trial, and the high com- mendations it has received from a large number of the best practical bee keepers in the State of Ohio, where its merits are known, the author is led to believe that when this hive is once brought before the public and its advantages made known, it will supersede all others, and render the culture of the Honey Bee far more sure and profitable than it has formerly been, and divest it of much that has been perplexing and difficult to understand, and overcome ; and, at the same time, much more pleasant and interesting, to every one that has a taste or desire to engage in the culture of this most wonderful and interesting little insect, which has attracted the attention of phi- losophers and naturalists, and called forth the admiration of wise men 5 vi PREFACE. and poets of all ages, and whose mysterious operations are calculated to raise our thoughts to Him who creates and sustains all things. ‘The industrious Bee has ever been viewed by intelligent natural- ists as an interesting species of insects, and the fruits of its industry as among the choicest productions of nature,” and affording a most de- licious luxury to the human race. This treatise is intended rather as an accompaniment to the ‘ Ohio Combination Bee-Hive:” but while giving directions for constructing and using the Hive, the author has thought it might not be considered out of place to give his views on the general management of bees, and the construction of bee-hives, which are the results of more than twenty years’ experience, during which period he has devoted a large amount of time and expense in experimenting with hives of various forms and sizes, and improving every means in his power to gain all the infor- mation possible from others engaged in the culture of bees. And while studying the instinct and habits of the bee, to combine in one hive as many requisites as possible, suited both to the wants of the bee, and convenience of the apiarian. And the inventor has now the pleasure and satisfaction of knowing that the *‘ Ohio Combination Hive” does receive the unqualified approbation of ninety-nine out of every hundred bee-keepers that have given it a trial or examination. The inventor would here state that in bringing this hive before the public at this time, that it is no new untried experiment, but that it has stood the test of four or five seasons in several hundred instances, and that many that have used it during that period, have testified that the longer they use them the better satisfied they become of their great utility and superiority over every other hive known to them. In my remarks in the following pages on the physiology of the bee, I am indebted to a considerable extent to Huber and Dr. Bevan, both of whom stand high as Naturalists and Apiarians, where- PREFACE. vil ever they are known. I have availed myself also of the information of several American authors, and with my own, which is the result of many years’ practical experience, I have endeavored in as brief and explicit a manner as possible, to lay them before the reader, hop- ing that they may accomplish the object aimed at by the author, viz. : a more easy, pleasant, profitable, and humane method of managing the Honey Bee. | am Fare Ee giiuhtrss eee Sage mie Se Dy cae =) CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION. Tux object of this treatise is not to enter into a detail of the physi- ology and anatomy of the Bee, and a scientific definition of its pecu- liar construction, but to place before the public a practical work, the result of actual experience, whereby the veriest tyro in Bee-keeping will be enabled, with the aid of proper hives, to enter upon their cul- ture, with almost a surety of success. We, therefore, have left out the scientific disquisitions of those who profess to be learned in the physiological structure of this interesting insect, and proceed at once to describe the different classes into which the common honey bee is divided, a thorough knowledge of whose peculiarities, habits, and offices, which each individual class is called upon to perform, in the municipal regulations of the hive, is necessary for their successful culture. Many works are published upon this subject, which contain much which is not easily understood by the general reader, and of little practical use to the common bee-keeper, who in most instances has but a little time to spare, to search through rubbish after practical truths, and who requires a treatise easily understood, and as easily put into practical use. Such as require a more extended work, we refer to those of Huber, Bevan, and many of the larger works upon the sub- ject to be found in our bookstores. We proceed to describe the three classes of bees which are necessary to constitute a successful working hive, viz.: the Queen Bes, the WorkinG Bre, and the Drone. 1* CELAPTERII. THE QUEEN BEE. THE Queen Bee is at once the mother and mistress of the Hive. She is distinguishable from the rest of the community by certain marks, which render her detection very easy, by any one once ac- quainted with her peculiarities. She is longer in the body than the common bee, and moves with a more deliberate and measured tread. Her wings are shorter than those of the worker or drone, whose bod- ies are entirely covered, while those of the queen scarcely reach be- yond the middle. Her body tapers gradually to a point, her under jaws are shorter, her head rounder, her trunk more slender, and not half so long as that of the working bee. Her legs, though longer, have neither brushes nor baskets, or cavities in the thighs for the con- veyance of farina and propolis. Her colors distinguish her also: the upper surface of her body being a much brighter black, and the under surface and the legs of a dark orange or copper color, that of the hinder legs being somewhat deeper than the rest. We think the above explanation of the appearance of the queen will enable almost any one to distinguish her from the other bees in the hive, and if ne- cessary to remove her when requisite, as is sometimes the case in managing bees. The office of the queen is to increase the species by the laying of eggs, which she deposits in cells constructed for their reception. 10 THE OPERAIION OF LAYING. ih These cells vary from one another in size, according as they are to be used as depositories of eggs that are to become drones, or of those that are to become workers. The cells of the drones are built at the lower edge of the combs generally, and are about as large again as the cells of the workers, and the combs containing them are also much thicker. The store-cells and drone-cells are of the same size. There are but two diameters for the cells of the combs of the honey bee, one for the brood-comb of the workers, the other for drone and store combs. The brood-combs are, however, occasionally used to store honey in. The royal or queen cells are about as large as a peanut, and bear a great resemblance to that nut, and are always placed on the edge of the comb, either on the outside or on the side of a hole or passage-way through the comb, with the mouth downwards. CHAPTER LILI. THE OPERATION OF LAYING. Tue queen commences laying as early as January and February, if the weather is moderate, and lays to a greater or less extent accord- ing to the temperature of the weather, the strength of the stock, and amount of honey in the hive, and much earlier in a southern than northern climate. She first lays worker eggs for several weeks in succession in that portion of the combs denominated brood-combs, and occupying the central part of the hive. The following description of the operation of laying (which is correct to the letter) is given by the “ Rey. M. Dunbar, Minister of Applegarth, England,” and Dr. Bevan says “ they are quite in accordance with similar experiments made by Mr. Golding and himself.” Mr. Miner, also, and several American authors, have certified to the correctness of the statement. ‘Mr. D. states that when the queen is about to lay she puts her head into a cell and re- mains in that position for a second or two, probably to ascertain the fitness for the deposit which she is about to make. She then with- draws her head, and curving her body downwards, inserts her tail into the cell. In a few seconds she turns half round upon herself, and 12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOD. withdraws, leaving an egg behind her. When she lays a corsiderable number she does it equally on each side of the comb, those on the one side being as exactly opposite to those on the other as the rela- tive positions of the cells will admit.- The effect of this is to produce a concentration and economy of heat, for developing the various changes of the brood.” During the process of laying she is usually accompanied by several workers, who appear to bestow upon her a great degree of attention and respect. She continues laying worker eges for several weeks in succession, during the latter part of which she lays to a greater extent than in the former. Some four weeks before the time for swarming, she commences laying drone eggs. These are deposited in cells of larger size prepared for their reception. The number of drone eggs amount generally to from four to six hundred. It is during the laying of drone eggs that the royal cells are prepared, (and if it is decided by the bees that a swarm can be spared,) the queen deposits eggs in these at intervals, as has been stated, so as to mature at the time a swarm would probably immigrate. The form of the eggs of the queen are of a long‘oval shape, about the size of that produced by the large green fly, but curved a little, and of a transparent bluish- white color, and are besmeared with a glutinous substance which ad- heres them to the bottom of the cell, m which position they remain for three or four days, (according to the temperature of the weather, ) when asmall worm or maggot is produced. The workers immedi- ately commence nursing and feeding them with farina (or bee-bread) and honey, with which they supply them most bountifully. OH A‘P Pl Be hve, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOD. Tue :ollowing description of the development of the brood in 1ts various stages, from the egg to the full-grown Bee, is from Dr. Bevan’s work, and accords with my own observation and apiarians generally. Dr. Bevan says, ‘‘The eggs of bees are of a lengthened oval shape, with a slight curvature, and of a bluish-white color: they are about the size of those which are laid by the butterfly THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOD. 13 upon cabbage-leaves, are composed of a thin membrane, filled with a whitish liquor, and being besmeared at the time of laying with a glutinous substance, they adhere to the bases of the ells, and remain unchanged in figure or situation for four days; then they are hatched, the bottom of each cell presenting to view a small white worm or maggot, with several ventral rings. On its growing so as to touch the opposite angle of the cell, it coils itself up in the shape of a semicircle. To use the language of Swammerdam, it coils itself up like a dog when he is going to sleep, and floats in a whi- tish transparent fluid, which is deposited in the cells by the nursing bees, and by which it is probably nourished; it becomes gradually enlarged in its dimensions, till the two extremities touch one another and form aring. In this state it obtains indifferently the name of worm, larva, maggot, or grub, and is fed with farina or bee-bread. The slightest movement on the part of the nursing bees suffices to attract it to its food, to receive the welcome morsels of which it eagerly opens its two lateral pincers, and a most liberal supply is afforded to it, though by no means trenching on the bounds of prodigality. So nicely do the bees calculate the quantity which will be required, that none remains in the cell when the larva is transformed to a nymph. It was the opinion of Reaumur, and is still that of many eminent naturalists, that farina does not constitute the sole food of the bee larvee ; but that it consists of a mixture of farina with a certain pro- portion of honey and water, partly digested in the stomachs of the nursing bees, the relative proportions of honey and farina varying ac- cording to the age of the young. The compound at first is nearly in- sipid, but gradually receives an accession of sweetness which increases as the insects approach maturity. The larva having derived support in the manner above described, for four, five, or six days, according to the season, continues to in- crease during that period, till it occupies the whole breadth and nearly the length of the cell. The nursing bees now seal up the cell, with a light brown cover, externally more or less convex, (the cap of a drone-cell is more convex than that of a worker,) and thus differing from that of a honey-cell, which is paler and somewhat concave. The larva is no sooner perfectly inclosed than it begins to J+ THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRUOD. labor, alternately extending and shortening its body, whilst it lines the cell by spinning round itself; after the manner of the silk-worm, a whitish silky film or cocoon, by which it is encased, as it were, in a pod or pellicle. The silken thread employed in forming this covering proceeds from the middle part of the under lip, and is in fact com- posed of two threads, gummed together as they issue from the two adjoining orifices of the spinner.’* When it has undergone this change it has usually borne the name of nymph or pupa. “ The work- ing bee nymph spins its cocoon in thirty-six hours. After passing about three days in this state of preparation for a new existence, it gradually undergoes so great a change as hot to wear a vestige of its previous form, but becomes armed with a firmer mail, and with scales of a dark brown hue, fringed with light hairs. On its belly six rings become distinguishable, which by slipping one over another en- able the bee to shorten its body, whenever it has occasion to do so; its breast becomes entirely covered with gray feather-like hairs, which as the insect advances in age assume a reddish hue. When it has reached the twenty-first day of its existence, counting from the moment the egg is laid, it quits the exuvia of the pupa state, comes forth a perfect winged insect, and is termed an imago. ‘The cocoon or pellicle is left behind, and forms a closely attached and exact lining to the cell in which it was spun. By this means the breeding cells become smaller, and their partitions stronger, the oft- ener they change their tenants; and when they have become so much diminished in size by this succession of pellicles or linings, as not to admit of the perfect development of full-sized bees, they are converted into the receptables for honey. Such are the respective stages of the working bee; those of the queen bee are as follows: She passes three days in the egg, and is five days aworm; the workers then close her cell, and she immediately begins spinning the cocoon, which occupies her twenty-four hours. On the tenth and eleventh days, as if exhausted by her labor, she remains in complete repose, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth day. Then she passes four days and ore third as anymph. Itis on the sixteenth day, therefore, that the perfect state of a queen is attained.” “The drone * Kirby and Spencer. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOD. 15 or male passes three days in the egg, six and a half as a worm, and metamorphoses into a fly or perfect bee on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day after the egg is laid.” “The young bees break their envelope with their teeth, and are as- sisted as soon as they come forth by the older ones, proceed to clean themselves from the exuviee with which they were surrounded,” and in the course of a few hours are busily engaged in the labors of the family. ‘We have seen her,” says Wildman, “the same day issue from the cell, and return from the fields loaded with wax like the rest.” Others suppose they remain in the hive for two or three days before they commence their labors. The royal cells, instead of being near horizontal, as the brood and store-house cells, are placed in perpendicular position on the edges of the combs, near the centre of the hive, are of much larger dimensions, and are not adjoining each other, but occupy different po- sitions on the edges of the combs, and resemble in form the shell of a peanut, as previously stated in Chap. ii, and from three to twelve in number. At the time the nymph is about to change to the perfect queen, the bees cut or gnaw away the wax or covering of the cell, rendering it very thin. In this position the young queen is supplied with food by the worker bees, by means of a small hole in the cover- ing, through which the confined queen receives its food from the worker bees. Bevan says, ‘‘ Probably the young queens are thus tem- porarily imprisoned, the more complete to ensure success to them in their first efforts to fly, which would seem to be an object of consid- erable importance. In furtherance of this, they are provided with capacious shells, which, by enabling them to expand their wings, be- fore they emerge, fit them for immediate flight, whereas the work- ers and drones issue from their cells with folded wings.” It has been supposed by some apiarians that the worker bees stand very much in awe of their sovereign, and that she has them perfectly at her command and control. Huber declares that.he “has heard it on various occa- sions, and witnessed the striking effect which it has always pro- duzed.” Other apiarians have, however, expressed different opinions, and have never witnessed any such effect produced as has been stated by Huber, and I doubt very much whether the queen has, and does 16 THE WORKING BEE. exercise that authority over the colony in all their avocetion, that has been attributed to her by many writers. That she is very much es- teemed and prized by her subjects I readily admit; bt it appears to me that they are governed more by the impulse of a ~atural instinct, for each to voluntarily fill and’ occupy the sphere designed them by the Creator, than by the command of the queen; for, unlike man, each appears to know their place, and gladly occupy it, and have no ambitious spirit to gratify, having no mutineers or tpvolutionists in the colony, but all united, and if you insult or injv: my individual you rouse the ire of the whole family. CHAPTER. THE WORKING BEE. Tue next class for consideration is the worker bee Ve hays given the process of laying and hatching the bees in th precesin> pager We now give a description of the working bee. These are by some called newters or mules ; by others female nox breeders. The latter is, undoubtedly, the more appropriate title, the workers being sterile females with undeveloped ovaries. In a single hive the number of these varies from 12,000 to 20,000. If swarming is prevented by affording room, a single family, in summer, may con- tain 50 or 60,000. They are the smallest members of the community, are furnished with a long flexible apparatus known by the name of proboscis, have a peculiar structure of the legs and thighs, on the latter of which are small hollows or baskets, to receive and carry the pro- polis and farina which they collect, and they are armed with a straight THE DRONE. 17 sting. Upon them devolves the whole labor of the colony ; they rear the young, guard the entrances, elaborate the wax, collect and store the provision, and build the cells in which it is warehcused as well as those which contain the brood. CHA PIEER.ViL. THE DRONE. Tue drones or males number from 300 to 600 in a family, accoiding to its strength. These make their appearance about the end of April, and are seldom to be seen after the middle of August, except under peculiar circumstances. They are one-third larger than the workers, somewhat thicker and of a darker color; they have shorter jaws as well as a shorter proboscis, and are more blunt at the tail than either the queen or workers; the last ring of the body is fringed with hairs, extending over the tail and visible to the naked eye. They make a greater noise in flying, are destitute of baskets on their thighs, and have no sting; are rather shorter than the queen, but generally much larger. Underneath the tail two small protuberances of a yellowish color may be seen, which are regarded as the distinctive marks of their sex. {In someswarms no drones are observable; probably these are first swarms, which, being always led off by old queens, have no occasion for drones. We have before stated that the queen was the parent of the bee colony ; the working bees are the laborers who gather and store the sweets for the supply of the family, and the drones are evidently for the purpose of impregnating the queens. We give Huber’s account of this discovery of the uses of the drone in a hive of bees. It alse accords with all writers on this subject at the present day. - 18 THE DRONE. “ Aware that the males usually leave the hive in the warmest part of the day in summer, it was natural to suppose that if the queens were obliged to go out for fecundation, instinct would induce them to do so at the same time as the others. “ At eleven in the forenoon, we placed ourselves opposite to a hive containing an unimpregnated queen five days old. The sun had shone from his rising, the air was very “warm, and the males began to leave the hives. We then enlarged the entrance (which had been contracted to prevent the egress of the queens) of that selected for observation, and paid great attention to the bees entering and departing. The males appeared and immediately took flight. Soon afterwards the young queen came to the entrance; at first she did not, but during a little time traversed the board, brushing her belly with her hind legs, neither workers nor males bestowing any notice on her. At last she took flight; when several feet from the hive she returned and ap- proached it as if to examine the place of her departure, perhaps judg- ing this precaution necessary to recognize it; she then flew away, de- scribing horizontal circles twelve or fifteen feet above the earth. We contracted the entrance of the hive that she might not return unob- served, and placing ourselves in the centre of the circles described in her flight the more easily to follow her and witness all her motions, but she did not remain long in a situation favorable for our observations, and rapidly rose out of sight. We resumed our place before the hive; and in seven minutes the young queen returned to the entrance of a habitation which she had left for the first time. Having found no ex- ternal evidence of fecundation, we allowed her to enter. In a quarter of an hour she re-appeared, and after brushing herself as before, took flight; then returning to examine the hive, she rose so high that we soon lost sight of her. This second absence was much longer than the first, it occupied twenty-seven minutes. We now found her ina state very different from that in which she was after the former ex- cursion, the organs distended by a substance thick and hard, very much resembling the matter in the vessels of males, completely similar to it in color and consistence.” There is not the least doubt in my mind as to the correctness of Huber’s opinion on this point, but many seem to doubt it, ard I have LONGEVITY OF BEES. CHAPTER V El. LONGEVITY OF BEES. Tux length of life allotted by the ancients to the working bee, was much greater than has since been, by modern writers; as the former supposed it to reach the term of from seven to ten years, but the latter have thought it not to exceed one year. Dr. Bevan, after experi- menting on the subject, has given it as his opinion, that it does not exceed six or seven months. And from the attention I have paid to the subject, I am of the opinion that it does not much exceed that term; though I think that probably some may exceed that period. I find that there are many bee-keepers at the present day, that are not at all prepared to believe this statement, and do really suppose that the bee generally lives several seasons. But I think that after a little reflection, every one must be convinced that the average life of the working bee does not at most exceed eight or nine months, and that a large proportion do not reach the age of six months. Let any one who doubts this put a swarm into a bee-house, or room fitted for the purpose, and of such dimensions as will prevent swarming, as many have done in the State of Ohio, and then let him observe their operations; and he will find that as a general thing he will have as many bees in his colony on the first of July of the second year as he will at that period in any subsequent year. The philosophy of the matter is simply this: The queen being the mother of the entire family, and producing all the brood, or young bees, the population of the colony is kept up by her; and she being able to produce only about a given number of bees during the season, and their lives being 20 LONGEVITY OF BEES. of so short duration, a large majority of them close their existence before the next spring, at which time the colony is found to contain no more bees than it did the previous spring; and this increase and decrease in numbers will continue yearly while the colony exists, and their numbers will remain just about the same for years. “Like leaves on trees, the race of bees is found Now green in youth, now withering on the gronnd : Another race the spring or fall supplies— They droop successive, and successive rise.”’ T have known several instances where bees have been put into large palaces, and rooms in buildings, fitted for the purpose, where so much space was given that swarming has been prevented entirely, and the bees permitted to increase for years, to any extent in their power; but in no case have they increased in numbers to exceed that of a good colony just previous to its throwing off a first swarm. I was called upon in the summer of 1851, to transfer a colony into one of my hives from an old bee-palace (as they are called in Ohio). The bees had occupied it for fifteen years, during which time they had never thrown off a swarm; and at the time I transferred them, which was the last of June, there were no more bees than in a colony of the preceding year that had not thrown off a swarm that season. In the month of September, 1851, I transferred a portion of a good strong colony of bees into my observatory hive, leaving the queen with the remainder of the bees in the old hive. This I accomplished by removing the old hive a short distance, and placing the observa- tory hive where it formerly stood. I had previously taken from an- other hive a piece of comb containing brood, and placed it in the observatory hive; not for the purpose of trying the experiment of raising a queen from a worker egg, but to experiment in feeding, and observe their operations while destitute of a queen, and also how long they would exist in that situation. I will here state that I had no expectation of their raising a queen from the brood that I had sup- plied them with, as it was so far advanced in a state of maturity that it afforded them no means of accomplishing that object; yet they had by the next morning laid the foundations of three royal cells, in the portions of the combs containing the youngest brood. On each of these LONGEVITY OF THE QUEEN. OB some half-dozen of bees were busily engaged for some forty-eight hours, when they were abandoned entirely, on account of the ad- vanced state of the brood. I had previously commenced feeding them, and the bees were building combs and storing them with honey, and worked to all appearances as well and systematically as if pos- sessed of a queen; which I was sure was not the case, as I could readily see every bee in the hive, and every cell, in a moment of time. I continued to feed them, and watch their operations closely by day and night, until I was satisfied they had a sufficient s.pply to last them as long as they would require food, as I could see from day to day that their numbers were diminishing; so that by the first of No- vember, one half of their number at least had become extinct. The remaining bees appeared as active and industrious as those occupying my other hives. They were flying briskly every pleasant day, and appeared eager to improve every opportunity to labor and gather stores as those of other colonies. Their numbers were continually diminishing, and on the first of December there were not more than a pint or pint and a half remaining in the hive; and by the middle of the month not a live bee remained. The cold weather probably had an effect in terminating their existence, as there were not a sufficient quantity of bees to keep up a proper amount of heat. The foregoing experiment, in connection with others made by Bevan, Huber, Reaumur, and others, goes to convince me that the natural life of the working bee does not reach the term of one year and that they may very properly be termed an insect of a season. LONGEVITY OF THE QUEEN. The life of the queen bee has been ascertained to be of much longer duration than that of the worker. This is a wise provision of the Great Ruler of all events, for if the life of the queen was as brief as that of the working bee, the whole race would be liable to soon be- come extinct. The experiments and observations of Huber, Bevan, Dunbar, Gold- ing and Rocca, and of several American apiarians on this point. are sufficient and ample to settle this question. Though no one has ever pretended to be definite as to the exact length of her life, all admit 22 THE APIARY. that she generally sees several generations of her subjects pas3 away before she quits the stage herself Huber was of opinion that her life extended in many instances to a period of from four to five years; though he speaks positively only of its extending to two years. In numerous instances, when she has been marked so as to be iden- tified, she has been traced from swarm to swarm for a period of three or four years. The life of the drone does not exceed four or five months, if left to die a natur:1 death ; but their lives are generally cut off by violence of the workers at much shorter period than this. CHAPT WH VeiTe THE APIARY. 