Publtsli&d We&lily* at ^IMO p^r annum. 



SampJe Cojyy sent on Apjylloat ion. 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 9, 1896. 



No. 15. 



'^~T"T~'i 



llcleit; 



Swarming — Its Cause and Prevention. 



BY GEO. F. BOBBINS. 



I notice by the report of the Chicago meeting of the Illi- 

 nois State Bee-Keepers' Association (page 103), that the 

 " swarming-fever " struck the convention. I wish I had been 

 there to doctor them. I could have cured them. In other 

 words, I linow why bees swarm. There are a great many 

 things about bee-keeping that I do not know, many that I am 

 uncertain about, many things I think, but this one thing I 

 know. And knowing the causes, I practically know to just 

 what extent swarming can be prevented, and how to do it. 



Now if you will all give me your attention, I will tell you 

 what I know, and add a little, perhaps, that I do not know, 

 but I will tell you when I come to that. And when you have 

 read what I have written, if it is too hard for you to remem- 

 ber, file away this number of the American Bee Journal, or 

 cut out this article and paste it in your scrap-book. Then if 

 ever this matter begins to exercise you again, just look this 

 up, read it, and set your questionings at rest. 



It is not enough to say that it is the nature of bees to 

 swarm, therefore, swarming cannot be prevented. Indeed, 

 the premise is not exactly true. It is not enough to say it is 

 the nature of corn to grow, therefore it will grow. In order 

 to reproduce and propagate the species, Nature has implanted 

 In the grain of corn a germ, which, if fed and nursed accord- 



House-Apiary of E. Qouldinu, Wcllesley, Mass. — Winter View. 



ing to Nature's laws, will grow and become a sprout, then a 

 stalk — otherwise it will remain a latent germ or perish entirely. 

 The bent to swarm is not primarily the nature of bees — it 

 is not itself the germ. It is only a form or outgrowth of the 

 instinct to reproduce and propagate the race, which is im- 



planted in the bee as in all other species of the animal world. 

 That instinct is the organic principle — the germ which, if 

 properly fed and nursed, develops into the disposition to swarm. 

 Now, the question is. Can this want of their nature be supplied 

 some other way ? If it can, and we can discover the " how," 

 the problem of the prevention of swarming is solved. 



Obviously the first thing to do in order to arrive at an an- 

 swer to this question is to ascertain, if we can, the more 

 direct causes of the swarming-impulse. Now is the time for 

 me to tell you why bees swarm. Notice : 



There are two sets of conditions that conspire to this end. 



Summer View of the Goulding House-Apiary — See page 232. 



The first set ministers chiefly to the instinct for procreation. 

 They are these : 



First— As conditions wax and wane, they have the effect 

 to correspondingly stimulate and depress the energies of bees 

 and queen alike. I would tell you why this is so, but it is too 

 large a subject to enter into now. The same circumstances 

 may be present in the same degree in May and September — in 

 June and August. Yet in the former two months life and 

 enthusiasm are thriving, while in the latter they are dying out. 



Second — Anything that rouses bees to action incites to 

 brood-rearing. I have known a warm spell in November, with 

 some disturbance of the brood-chamber in preparing bees for 

 winter, to start the queen to laying. 



Third — The favorable stimulating conditions we find pres- 

 ent in the earliest part of the season are : 



1st. The weather grows warmer and more settled. 2nd. 

 Honey and pollen begin to come in. How a little smell of 

 nectar will excite bees is one of the familiar sights of the api- 

 ary. 3rd. The bees that are hatching out in ever-increasing 

 numbers can nurse still greater quantities of brood. That is, 

 one young bee can feed and care for more than one egg and 

 larva. 4th. There are an ever-increasing number of house- 

 bees that really want something to do. 



