Occasionally a queen is lost at other than the swarming season, averaging about one in forty. It is most frequent in spring; at least it is generally discovered then. The queen may die in the winter, and the bees not give us any indications till they come out in spring. (Occasionally they may all desert the hive, and join another.) If we expect to ascertain when a queen is lost at this season, we must notice them just before dark on the first warm days--because the mornings are apt to be too cool for any bees to be outside--any unusual stir, or commotion, similar to what has been described, shows the loss. This is the worst time in the year to provide the remedy, unless there should happen to be some very poor stock containing a queen, that we might lose any way--then it might be advisable to sacrifice it to save the other, especially if the last contained all the requisites of a good stock except a queen. Some eight or ten, that I have managed in this way, have given me full satisfaction. I have at other times let them go till the swarming season, and then procured a queen, or introduced a small swarm; at which time they are so reduced as to be worth but little, even when not affected by the worms. To obviate this loss in this way, it might be an advantage to transfer the bees to the next stock, if it was not too full already; or the bees of the next stock to this. Let the age and condition of the combs, quantity of stores, &c., decide. CHAPTER XV. ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. PRINCIPLES SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD. Artificial swarms can be made with safety at the proper season. To the bee-keeper who wishes to increase his stocks, it will be an advantage to understand some of the principles. I have had some little experience that has led to different conclusions from those of some others. I have seen it stated, and found the assertion repeated by nearly every writer, that "whenever bees were deprived of their queen, if they only possessed eggs or young larvæ, they would not fail to rear another," &c. There are numerous instances of their doing this, but it is not to be depended upon, especially when left in a hive full of combs, as the following experiments tend to prove. SOME EXPERIMENTS.