can help but admire this wise and beautiful
arrangement? The combs must contain brood; the bees must find honey
during the rearing of the queens. If a swarm were to issue the moment
of obtaining honey, the consequence might be fatal, as there would not
be a numerous brood to hatch out, and replenish the old stock with bees
sufficient to keep out the worms. Were they to issue at any time, as
soon as the bees had increased enough in numbers to spare a swarm,
without regard to the yield of honey, they might starve.

CONFLICTING THEORIES.

I find many theories conflicting with these views, which appear to call
for some remarks. It is generally supposed that a young queen must be
matured to issue with the swarms, and the old one with the old bees are
permanent residents of the old hive.

BOTH OLD AND YOUNG LEAVE WITH SWARMS.

It is probable that no rule governs the issue of workers. Old and young
come out promiscuously. That old bees come out may be known sometimes,
by so many leaving, that not a quarter as many will be left, as
commenced work in the spring. That young bees leave, any one may be
satisfied on seeing a swarm issue; a great many too young and weak to
fly will drop down in front of the hive, having come out now for the
first time, and perhaps some of them had not been out of the cell an
hour; these very young bees are known by the color.

CAUSE OF THE QUEEN'S INABILITY TO FLY SUGGESTED.

The old queen often gets down in the same way; but I would assign
another cause for her inability to fly; that is, I would suggest it to
be her burden of eggs.

EVIDENCE OF THE OLD QUEEN'S LEAVING.

That the old queen does leave with the first swarm is indicated by
several things: one is, eggs may often be found on the board the next
morning; another, when the first swarm has left, and before any of
these royal cells hatch, the bees may be driven out and no queen will
be found, or you may drive out the bees at the end of three weeks, and
the brood of workers will be about all hatched, the drone brood not
quite as near. The combs may also contain some eggs, and perhaps some
very young larvae, that have been deposited by the young queen, which
begins to lay usually sixteen or eighteen days after the first swarm.
This shows a cessation of laying eggs for about two weeks. First swarms
will have eggs in the cells as soon as they are made to hold them,
which is often within 24 hours after being hived; occasionally a n