BEE-KEEPER\S CAIiEXDAR. 549 



clustered, preparatoiy to their departure for a new home 

 (419). ' 



"As it may often be important to know from which hive the 

 swarm has issued, after it has been hived and removed to its 

 new stand, let a cup-full of bees be taken from it and thrown 

 into the air, near the apiary, after having sprinkled them with 

 flour; they will soon return to the parent colony, and may 

 easily be recognized, by standing at the entrance, fanning, like 

 ventilating bees." — Dzierzon. 



This is the quickest method to discover the home of a 

 swarm. 



As fast as the surplus honey receptacles are filled, more 

 room should be given {735, 763). Careless bee-keepers 

 often lose much, by negiecting to do this in season, thereby 

 condemning their colonies to a very unwilling idleness. The 

 Apiarist will bear in mind, that all after-swarms which come 

 off late in this month, should be either aided, doubled, or 

 returned to the mother-colony. Tlie issue of such swarms may 

 be prevented, by removing, in season, the supernumerary 

 queen-cells. During all the swarming season, and, indeed, 

 at all other times when young queens are being bred, the 

 bee-keeper must ascertain seasonably, that the hives which 

 contain them, succeed in securing a fertile mother (152). 



8S5. July. — In some seasons and districts, this is the 

 great swarming month; while in others, bees issuing so late, 

 are of small account. In Northern Massachusetts, we have 

 known swarms coining after the Fourth of July, to fill their 

 hives, and make large quantities of surplus honey besides. 

 In this month, or as soon as the first crop is over, all the 

 spare honey should be removed from the hives, before the 

 delicate whiteness of the combs becomes soiled by the travel 

 of the bees, or the quality of the honey is impaired by an 

 inferior article gathered later in the season (782). For the 

 same reason, the honey extracted after this crop should not be 

 mixed with that harvested later. In all the localities where 



