he honey bee have long been familiar to scientific observers, it has
unfortunately happened that some of the most important have been widely
discredited. In themselves they are so _wonderful_, and to those who
have not witnessed them, often _so incredible_, that it is not at all
strange that they have been rejected as fanciful conceits, or bare-faced
inventions.

Many persons have not the slightest idea that _every thing_ may be
_seen_ that takes place in a bee-hive. But hives have for many years,
been in use, containing only one large comb, enclosed on both sides, by
glass. These hives are darkened by shutters, and when opened, the queen
is exposed to observation, as well as all the other bees. Within the
last two years, I have discovered that with proper precautions, colonies
can be made to work in observing hives, without shutters, and exposed
continually to the _full light of day_; so that observations may be made
at all times, without in the least interrupting the ordinary operations
of the bees. By the aid of such hives, some of the most intelligent
citizens of Philadelphia have seen in my Apiary, the queen bee
depositing her eggs in the cells, and constantly surrounded by an
affectionate circle of her devoted children. They have also witnessed,
with astonishment and delight, all the steps in the mysterious process
of raising queens from eggs which with the ordinary development, would
have produced only the common bees. For more than three months, there
was not a day in which some of my colonies were not engaged in making
new queens to supply the place of those taken from them, and I had the
pleasure of exhibiting all the facts to bee-keepers who never before
felt willing to credit them. As _all_ my hives are so made that each
comb can be taken out, and examined at pleasure, those who use them, can
obtain from them all the information which they need, and, are no longer
forced to take any thing upon trust.

May I be permitted to express the hope that the time is now at hand,
when the number of practical observers will be so multiplied, that
ignorant and designing men will neither be able to impose their conceits
and falsehoods upon the public, nor be sustained in their attempts to
depreciate the valuable discoveries of those who have devoted years of
observation and experiment to promote the advancement of Apiarian
knowledge.

CHAPTER II.

THE HONEY BEE CAPABLE OF BEING TAMED OR DOMESTICATED TO A MOST
S