288 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



them. I take the liberty here to suggest, that it is barely possi- 

 ble the bees understand the thing, and their Creator also, 

 nearly as well as those who set themselves up as teachers in 

 this matter. The first, or non-swarming plan, is about as wise 

 and profitable as it would be for a dairy-man to prevent the 

 natural increase of his stock, by keeping on his farm perpetu- 

 ally, a parcel of farrow cows. The other, or artificial swarm- 

 ing, is about as wise and salutary an interference, as it would 

 be for a boy to catch the old hen and squeeze her because she 

 does not lay soon enough. There has been too much officious 

 meddling in this matter. Between these opposite extremes, or 

 with Scylla on the one hand, and Charybdis on the other, we 

 find the bees occupying the golden mean, where truth and 

 safety dwell, confident, it would seem, in the position which 

 they have taken, unchanged in this indomitable propensity, and 

 intent upon giving to their keeper a " windfall," as soon as they 

 are able with all their industry to furnish it to him. Swarm- 

 ing is a natural process. It cannot, to any great extent, be 

 interfered with, and the results prove permanently beneficial to 

 the bee keeper. The theory of swarming is this. The queen 

 lays eggs enough ordinarily, in a common sized hive, during 

 the hatching season, to make up for the losses which the swarm 

 sustains in various ways, and to increase the number of bees 

 to such an extent, that a colony can be spared or sent off, which 

 shall constitute a new organization. If the hive is double the 

 ordinary size, and the swarm which occupies it is double also, 

 its losses at the same time are double. If the hive is treble 

 the ordinary size, and the swarm is trebled also, its losses are 

 treble. The queen lays just about eggs enough during the 

 season, to make up for the losses which are sustained by a 

 swarm which is treble the ordinary size. There is no increase 

 in numbers beyond the wants of the household. No colony is 

 sent off, because none can be spared. They remain stationary 

 for a time, or from year to year, although strong and vigorous. 

 At length the queen becomes less fertile as she advances in age. 

 Fewer bees are raised. Their losses are not made good by the 

 increase. They gradually diminish in number, dwindle and 

 die. Bees are to be placed in a hive of suitable dimensions, 

 which contains about one cubic foot, with an arrangement for 

 the deposit of surplus honey, where full scope is given to their 



