In the middle-box the Bees are to be first placed: in it first they should construct their beautiful combs,--and, under the government of one sovereign--the mother of the hive--carry on their curious works, and display their astonishing, architectural ingenuity. In this box the REGINA of the colony, surrounded by her industrious, happy, humming subjects, carries on the propagation of her species,--deposits in the cells prepared for the purpose by the other Bees, thousands upon thousands of her eggs, though she deposits no more than one egg in a cell at one time: these eggs are hatchedandnursedupintoannerousprogenybytheother inhabitantsofthehive.It isatthistime,viz.whenhundredsofyoungBeesaredailycomingintoexistence,thatmy collateralboxesareoftheutmostimportancebothtotheBeesdoniciledinthem,andtotheirproprioters;forwhenthebroodhasbecomeperfectBeesinacommoncotagehive,a swarmisthenecessaryconsequence.TheQueen,accompaniedbyavalnumberofhersubjects,leavesthecolony,andseekssomeotherplaceinwhichtocarryontheworknaturehasassignedtoher.Butas swarmingmay,byproper precautionandattentiontomymodeofmanagement,_generally_beprevented,itisgoodpracticetodoso;becausethetimenecessarilyrequiredtoestablishanewcolony,evensupposingthecottapersoletedsinaythe swarm,wouldotherwisebeemployedincollectinghoney,andin enrichingtheoldhive.Here,then,isoneoftheadvantagesofmyplan,viz._the preventionof swarming.Whensymptonsof swarmingbegintopresentthemselves,andwhichmaybeknownbyanunusualnoiseinthehiveorbox(foritisofBeesinboxesthatIannowtreating),bytheappearanceofmore than common activity among the Bees in the middle-box, and by a sudden and extraordinary rise of temperature, which in tight, well-made boxes, may be ascertained by a thermometer, inserted in either of the empty end-boxes, provided the wind be still, but if otherwise, the thermometer should be in the leeward box: when these symptoms are apparent then the Bee-master may conclude that more space is required. At this period, therefore, he should draw out the sliding tin, marked 1, from under the bell-glass; which simple operation will immediately open to the Bees a new room, which they will soon occupy, fill with beautiful combs and honey as pure as the crystal stream. But if by mistake the manager should draw up either of the collateral-slides, which divide the end-boxes from the middle one, in that case the Bees will refuse to go up into the glass, and will commence their works in the collateral-box opened to them, in preference to the elevated glass; so well aware are they of the inconvenience attending the carrying of their burdens into an upper room, when a more convenient store-house is to be had in a lower one. The natural movements of Bees have demonstrated to me this fact by innumerable trials: year after year I have made this experiment to my entire satisfaction. The natural movements of the Bees also suggested to me the idea of the utility of ventilation, and that by its influence their works might be both divided and kept more pure; and that a place of safety might still be preserved for the Queen in the middle-box. She wants a suitable situation in which to carry on the work of propagating her species. Like the fowls of the air, she will not, if she can avoid it, propagate her young whilst under the observation and influence of man: she, therefore, prefers the middle-box for the propagation of her species: as well on account of its privacy, as because the ventilation of the end-boxes so cools their temperature, that they are not the situation nature requires to bring the embryo brood to perfection; yet they can be kept at such a temperature as to make them desirable store-rooms for honey. By this mode of management we prevent the necessity of swarming,--namely, by simply accommodating the Bees with additional room _when they want it;_ and by so accommodating them we generally obtain plentiful stores of pure honey,undulterated by the necessary gathering of immense quantities of farina for the larvae,* which we see in the piling system, as well as in the common cottage-hive; for this is all carried into the immediate vicinity of the seat of nature, the place where it is wanted, and never deposited in a properly ventilated end-box.