In the first place, as a rule, bees swarm at 

 the proper time, which in our locality is gen- 

 erally a few days before or in the beginning 

 of the great flow of honey in the spring. It 

 is very seldom that a swarm is cast on the 

 close of a honey harvest, while in dividing, 

 swarms are often made at very improper 

 times ; for instance, the spring harvest this 

 year was cut short a month earlier than usual 

 by cold and rain ; colonies that were pre- 

 paring to swarm, destroyed their queen cells 

 and killed off their drones in the latter part 

 of May, seeming to have a fore knowledge 

 of the long honey-drought that was to fol- 

 low. Now, swarms made at this time (which 

 inordinary seasons would have done well) 

 in the hands of careless or ignorant bee- 

 keepers would have certainly perished. We 

 made a few artificial swarms at this season, 

 and it was only by heavy feeding that we 

 were enabled to bring them through the 

 summer to the fall harvest in good shape. 



In the second place, natural swarms work 

 with an energy and vigor unknown in arti- 

 ficial swarms (this, however, is owing to ex- 

 isting conditions and not to any difference 

 in the disposition of the bees). We have 

 found by observation that bees always do 

 the very best thing that could be done under 

 the circumstances, and it is only our igno- 

 rance of the surrounding conditions and cir- 

 cumstances under which they labor that 

 disqualifies us for managing their concerns 

 for them. 



Let us now take a view of natural swarm- 

 ing, and see what admirable harmony pre- 

 vails in the government of the hive, and 

 how wonderfully the means are adapted to 

 the end in view. We find that when the 

 proper season has arrived, and the hive is 

 crowded with bees and brood, weather fine, 

 honey corning in plentifully, a large num- 

 ber of drones having been reared and queen 

 cells started. In short, everything being 

 in the very best possible condition for start- 

 ing a new colony, that the old queen with a 

 large majority of the working force of the 

 colony rush forth from the hive, and after 

 clustering in some convenient place, send 

 forth scouts in search of a new home, these 

 bees are fat and full of honey and are 

 already secreting the wax with which to 

 build the combs in their new hive. This 

 is why a natural swarm will build comb 

 faster for the first day or two than an arti- 

 ficial swarm of the same size. We find that 

 the drones with commendable prudence and 

 foresight (being naturally of a luxurious and 

 indolent disposition and not disposed to 

 labor for a living) refuse to follow the wan- 

 derers to their new home, where honey is 

 scarce and work is plenty, but return to the 

 old hive where they are needed to generate 

 the heat necessary to hatch the brood. Now 

 that the hive has been denuded of most of 

 its population, a large body of drones at 

 this time is very useful and where natural 

 swarming is allowed a moderate proportion 

 of drones is never detrimental to the pros- 



Eerity of the colony, as the heat generated 

 y them enables more workers to take the 

 field, and as soon as they are no longer 

 needed they are mercilessly destroyed by 

 the workers. One objection urged against 

 natural swarming is the time lost in egg 

 laying, from the time the old queen leaves 



with the swarm till the young queen be- 

 comes fertilized, but as the young queens 

 begin to hatch on the seventh or 

 eighth day after the old queen leaves, the 

 time gained by artificial methods cannot be 

 more than six days where queen cells are 

 furnished the new swarms, nor more than 

 two weeks where laying queens are fur- 

 nished. But remember these laying queens 

 cost something, and again the superiority 

 of these queens reared by natural process 

 will more than compensate for the loss in 

 time, and as this loss in time is just at the 

 very best of the honey season, when it is 

 well known that bees will gather honey 

 faster while rearing a queen than if they 

 had a laying queen, because they have no 

 young brood to feed and more workers are 

 sent to the field. We think, therefore, that 

 where honey is the principal object in view 

 this objection is groundless. 



Another objection to natural swarming, is 

 the danger of losing swarms by their go- 

 ing to the woods, but if the wings of all the 

 queens are clipped as soon as they begin to 

 lay, this objection, as well as several others 

 is obviated. Where it is desired to prevent 

 increase and secure the greatest yield of 

 honey we would advise the following plan: 

 Keep one wing of every queen clipped ; 

 have the hives sitting on the ground with 

 the alighting board resting on the ground 

 in front, keep all weeds and grass cleared 

 away from the hive, then when a swarm 

 issues, go to the hive it came from and cage 

 the queen which will be found on the ground 

 in front of the hive, remove the old hive 

 two feet from the old stand, throw a cloth 

 over it and place your new hive in its stead, 

 then when the swarm returns and begins to 

 rush into the new hive uncage the queen 

 and let her enter with the swarm and your 

 bees have hived themselves. 



If you think there is danger of the old 

 colony casting a second swarm, you may 

 open it in four days and cut out all queen 

 cells but one, or if it is choice stock, you 

 may take out a couple of combs of capped 

 brood (containing a queen cell) with the 

 adhereing bees and form a nucleus colony, 

 in order to have reserved queens when 

 needed. This will prevent after swarms 

 from issuing. As soon as the young queen 

 in the removed colony begins to lay, open 

 the new hive and remove the old queen, 

 fumigate both colonies, then place a top 

 story on the new swarm (which by this time 

 will have its brood-story filled) and lift the 

 combs out of the old hive, queen, bees and 

 all, and hang them in the top story on the 

 new swarm (placing it half way between 

 the two) and add a third story to accommo- 

 date the united colonies, and if necessary a 

 fourth. Thus you get a doubly strong col- 

 ony right at the heighth of the honey har- 

 vest, also a young queen without any loss of 

 time through queenlessness as the old queen 

 will have filled the new hive with brood by 

 the time the young queen gets to laying. If 

 you shade them, give plenty of ventilation, 

 and keep the honey extracted, they will not 

 be inclined to swarm any more that season. 

 By practicing this method you keep down 

 the increase and renew your queens every 

 year, which is a very great advantage as 

 these young queens will lay prodigiously 



