ARTIFICIAL SWABMING. 147 



the demand for them ; but would be entirely dependent 

 upon the caprices of his bees, or rather upon the natural 

 laws which control their swarming. 



Every practical bee-keeper is aware of the uncertainty 

 of natural swarming. Under no circumstances, can it be 

 confidently relied on. While some stocks swarm regularly, 

 and repeatedly, others, equally strong in numbers, and 

 rich in stores, refuse to swarm, even in seasons in all 

 respects highly propitious. Such colonies, on examination, 

 will often be found to have taken no steps for raising 

 young queens. In some cases, the wings of the old 

 mother are defective, while in others, she seems to prefer 

 the riches of the old hive, to the risks attending the for- 

 mation of a new colony. It frequently happens that, when 

 all the preparations have been made for swarming, the 

 weather proves so unpropitious that the young queens 

 approach maturity before the old ones can leave, and are 

 all destroyed. Under such circumstances, swarming, for 

 that season, is almost certain to be prevented. The young 

 queens are also sometimes destroyed, because of some 

 sudden, and perhaps only temporary, suspension of the 

 honey-harvest ; for bees seldom colonize, even if all their 

 preparations are completed, unless the blossoms are yield- 

 ing an abundant supply of honey. From these and other 

 causes, which my limits will not permit me to notice, it 

 has hitherto been found impossible, in the uncertain clim- 

 ate of our Northern States, for any but the most expe- 

 rienced and energetic Apiarians, to multiply colonies very 

 rapidly by natural swarming. 



The numerous perplexities pertaining to natural swarm- 

 ing, have, for ages, directed the attention of cultivators to 

 the importance of devising some more reliable method 

 for increasing their colonies.* 



* Dr. Scndamore quotes Columella, who, about the middle of the first cen- 

 tury of the Christian Era, wrote twelve books on husbandry "De re rwstica " an 



