The Cycle of the Year 75 



regarded, which may be construed as evidence that, after 

 all, the beekeeper knows little about swarming. 



Since swarming bees influence other bees to swarm pre- 

 maturely, it is evident that these conditions may become 

 worse in large commercial apiaries than would be the case 

 if colonies were scattered as wild bees are or where only a 

 few colonies are kept together. This abnormal condition 

 is largely the result of modern beekeeping, not only in the 

 maintenance of large apiaries but more especially in the 

 manipulations practiced in comb-honey production. 



It is sometimes assumed that bees from colonies about to 

 swarm get mixed in other colonies and serve to incite swarm- 

 ing in their new homes. There is no good evidence for this 

 belief. 



It should also be noted that when preparations for swarm- 

 ing are well under way, the various manipulations devised 

 to prevent it are usually unsuccessful and the only way to 

 get the colony back to normal (normal from the standpoint 

 of the beekeeper) is either to allow it to swarm naturally, 

 to make an artificial swarm, or to remove or cage the queen. 

 This and numerous other facts observed in swarm control 

 indicate that the condition of the bees which induces swarm- 

 ing is not one which comes into existence suddenly, but 

 is the result of a gradual development. Whether this con- 

 dition is physiological or psychological is undetermined. 

 Whatever the condition may be, it is in a sense at odds 

 with the gathering instinct, so that one of the most difficult 

 problems of the northern comb-honey producer is to keep 

 his colonies in the optimum condition for gathering, which 

 is equivalent to swarm prevention. 



Cause of swarming. 



Perhaps no subject in bee behavior has been so mucli 

 discussed as the cause of swarming. The simplest way to 

 account for this phenomenon is to attribute it to " instinct" 

 but naturally in doing this we are no nearer an explanation 

 than we were before. Instinct is blamed for many things 



