SWARMS FLY WESTWARD. 245 



tempted to leave in like manner. I was then entirely 

 unable to discover the cause or a remedy. The fol- 

 lowing finally occurred to my mind, and was applied 

 promptly : Most of the hives that had sent off swarms 

 had the top boxes full of honey, or nearly so, while 

 there were but few bees in them. I gave one of 

 these boxes to each of the discontented swarms, and 

 drove a portion of the bees upward into it; after 

 which but one of them made the attempt to leave, 

 and that had probably failed to discover the stores 

 given them. There was no more trouble ; most of the 

 bee-keepers in that section of the country lost more 

 or less swarms on that and the following day. The 

 cause i now believe was a sudden failure in the secre- 

 tion of honey in the flowers, as there were but few 

 more swarms that season. Information of the above 

 remedy was given to neighboring bee-keepers, and 

 it has been the means of saving large numbers of 

 swarms,* as in no instance has the remedy been 

 known to fail. 



SWARMS FLY WESTWARD. 



In the middle and western States, (and doubtless 

 elsewhere) very nearly all the swarms seen depart- 

 ing for the woods fly in a westerly direction ; this 



^Since the above discovery was made known, most of the bee- 

 keepers in that neighborhood (Lawrence County, Pennsylvania) 

 practice supplying boxes or frames of honey to each swarm when 

 hived, particularly if the weather is warm and dry. 



