No. 11. 



Artificial Swarming of Bees. 



349 



in addition to what would have been incur- 

 red had his team remained idle in their 

 stalls." 



The inducements for farmers to take stock 

 in plank roads, are summed up as follows: 



" Now in view of these facts and sugges- 

 tions, it must readily occur to every farmer, 

 within a reasonable distance of the line of a 

 plank road, that he can better afford to take 

 stock in such a company than any other of 

 our industrial classes, because he can more 

 cheaply pay for his shares, — by working 

 them out on the road. Every head of a 

 family, with his teams, scrapers, shovels, and 

 other implements which are always at hand 

 in the cultivation, &c., of his farm, could, 

 during those leisure times which every one 

 occasionally enjoys, work out from one to a 

 dozen shares, according to his force and prox- 

 imity to the road, without any serious diver- 

 sion of his attention from his regular voca- 

 tion, or perceptive detriment to his crops. 

 In fine, to all classes of farmers, no scheme 

 was ever devised that afforded so rich an as- 

 surance of immediate and positive benefits 

 to them, as the construction of plank roads 

 in the neighbourhood of their farms." — Cut 

 tivator. 



From the American Agriculturist. 

 Artificial Swarming of Bees. 



As the management of honey bees has 

 been my sole business for these last twelve 

 years, in the city of New York, I have 

 thought it would not be amiss to give my 

 own experience in a few particulars in re- 

 gard to these industrious insects. 



Artificial swarming is not generally prac- 

 tised in this country, owing probably to the 

 want of sufficient practical skill in most of 

 those who apply themselves to bee husband- 

 ry. For several years I have divided my 

 bees, not allowing them to swarm in the na- 

 tural way; and I find a great advantage in 

 so doing by reaping the full benefit of the 

 stock. It saves the watching necessary in 

 the case of natural swarms, and if conducted 

 on right principles, it renders the artificial 

 colony quite independent of the casualties 

 to which they are liable. Moreover, it se- 

 cures the multiplication of swarms in cases, 

 where, if left to the natural process, there 

 would be none. Sliould a continual spell of 

 bad weather occur about the usual period of 

 swarming, the old queen would have time 

 and opportunity to destroy all the royal pro- 

 geny — for the bees never oppose the queen 

 mother in such cases, — and thereby entirely 

 frustrate the hope of multiplication by natu- 

 ral swarms. In order to avoid this evil, we 

 must have recourse to artificial swarming. 



The general period proper for the operation, 

 is about eight or ten days previous to the 

 time when natural swarms might be looked 

 for. At that time, it is likely that royal 

 broods would be found in the combs ; at all 

 events, an abundance of eggs and larv8e,';of 

 workers, from which might be reared an ar- 

 tificial queen; the males, or drones, are also 

 at this time numerous — a state of things in- 

 dispensable, in order to secure success. 



I had a number of hives which had not 

 swarmed, probably owing to an unfavourable 

 change of weather. In consequence of this 

 delay, the reigning queen had an opportu- 

 nity of putting to death her intended succes- 

 sors. In this state of things, from the crowd- 

 ed condition of the hives, a mass of bees, as 

 large as a man's head, hung from the alight- 

 ing board of each, while others were clus- 

 tering on the outside of the hives. With 

 these hives, I resolved to try artificial swarm- 

 ing. I cut out of another hive, a piece of 

 brood comb, containing eggs and larvae of 

 the proper age, about three days old, and 

 fixed it in one of my principal hives. I then 

 removed one of the hives which had an out- 

 laying, or rather, an outhanging mass at- 

 tached to its alighting board, instantly clap- 

 ping down in its place, on the same board of 

 the hive already prepared; then with a brush, 

 I swept these bees off by the new hive, and 

 all that I could get out of it. Next, I re- 

 moved the old hive some distance from where 

 it stood, and with the help of a hot sun, forced 

 them to enter. They made a tremendous 

 noise, and seemed much disconcerted at find- 

 ing, instead of the rich combs with which 

 they had hitherto been familiar, nothing but 

 an empty hive. This agitation was kept up 

 all day by the continued arrival of those 

 bees which had been abroad when the sub- 

 stitution took place, adding greatly to the 

 increase of the stock. At noon, the next 

 day, I inspected the new establishment, and 

 found, to my great satisfaction, that the ex- 

 periment had completely succeeded. The 

 foundations of six royal cells had been laid 

 in the small piece of brood comb I had given 

 them ; in due time, the queen was hatched ; 

 the hive prospered, and I sold it for $25. At 

 the end of the season, the hive was as good 

 as any of my natural swarms. 



Another experiment in forming artificial 

 swarms, and the one I generally practice, is 

 to drive about two-thirds of the bees out of 

 the old hive with their queen, into one that 

 is empty. Then, I immediately replace the 

 old hive on its former station, and remove 

 the new one containing the queen, to a little 

 distance. As the former will have a plenty 

 of eggs and young brood, there will be no 

 trouble in procuring another queen. 



