KEEPING TOO MANY BEES 79 



of colonies is increased as much as if the swarm had 

 come off naturally. 



By removing the queen. Some apiarists remove 

 the queen during the honey-harvest and cut out all 

 the queen cells. They give the queen a nucleus if 

 they wish more brood; meanwhile the colony will 

 not swarm without her. Whether queenless bees 

 are as easy in their minds and, therefore, as ready 

 and enthusiastic in the task of gathering honey, is a 

 mooted question. Bees, like people, work to the 

 best advantage when they have fewest worries. 

 One difficulty with this method is that before we are 

 aware of it a queen may be reared despite our careful 

 and onorous labours in hunting for queen cells. 

 Another difficulty with this practice is the encourage- 

 ment of the egg-laying workers, which is a most 

 demoralising influence to introduce into a hive. 



AFTER-SWARMS 



An after-swarm is one that is led by a virgin queen 

 and may come off within sixteen days after the first 

 natural swarm departs; usually it occurs within a 

 week. Most bee-keepers consider the after-swarm 

 as a manifestation of "pure cussedness" on the part 

 of a colony; but it is only a poorly adjusted method 

 practised by the bees for getting rid of superfluous 

 princesses. After the old queen decamps with her 

 followers, there are usually several queens ready 

 to emerge from their cells; the ordinary story, as 

 told in books, is that the first queen that emerges 

 hastens to slay her yet helpless sisters, or battles with 



