18 Farmers’ Bulletin 1198. 
most to its sensation of strength. If, however, because of some fault 
in the management, because of adverse weather conditions, or be- 
cause the flowers yield nectar erratically, the field bees remain in 
the hive, they add greatly to the crowded condition of the brood- 
nest and, therefore, increase the tendency to swarm. 
It is well known that the advent of a honey-flow and active work 
in the field greatly stimulates the activities of the bees within the 
hive. Thousands of younger bees or hive workers now begin the 
tasks of preparing empty combs for incoming nectar, or for brood- 
rearing, building new comb, transferring nectar or honey, and ripen- 
ing the new nectar, but there is apparently a rather delicate balance 
between the work inside the hive and the work in the field, for if 
the work inside the hive is interrupted in any way the work of the 
field bees slows down accordingly. Therefore those factors already 
discussed which tend to produce congestion and idleness among the 
young workers within the brood-nest during a honey-flow quickly 
add greatly to the number of unemployed bees by causing the field 
bees to remain in the hive instead of going to the fields. 
If for any reason the expansion_of the activity of the hive workers 
is interrupted a stagnation of the activity within the hive must fol- 
low, which in turn causes more and more stagnation in the field work. 
Such a condition may arise if the young bees do not readily enter and 
occupy the first super that is given, if additional room is not given 
promptly to keep pace with the increasing number of oncoming 
young bees, if all the available space for evaporating nectar is in 
use, if the hive workers are driven out of the supers into the brood- 
chamber by heat or lack of ventilation, if the newly added supers 
are too remote or otherwise unattractive, or if so much of the work 
is being finished that the new and unfinished work is less than that 
needed to employ most of the hive workers. When the field workers 
stay within the hive in increasing numbers during a honey-fiow, 
preparation for swarming is the usual result. In this way a slight in- 
terference with the activities of the hive workers may quickly develop 
into a serious condition which might easily have been avoided if 
taken in time. 
-When the field bees are confined to their hives by several days of 
rain just previous to or during the swarming season, the result may 
be a greatly increased tendency to swarm. Sometimes two weeks 
of rain at about the time of the normal swarming season is 
followed by intense swarming. When the field bees remain in their 
hives a part of the time during the honey-flow because the flowers 
yield nectar erratically the tendency to swarm may be greatly in- 
creased. The presence of the great mass of field bees within the hive 
during the heat of the day from any of these causes must add greatly 
