^2* THE PRACTICAL BEE GUIDE. 



departure of the bees, and, when the cause has been removed, 

 the truants may be returned to their old quarters. 



216. Prevention of Swarming — It is frequently advisable to 

 prevent natural swarming-, because of the trouble and risks 

 attending it, and because, when one desires to obtain the largest 

 possible harvest of honey, and does not wish to increase his 

 stocks, natural swarming upsets all his arrangements ; for, it 

 is not possible, in an average season, to secure both an in- 

 crease of stocks and a large supply of surplus honey. Even 

 where increase of stocks is chiefly desired, natural swarming 

 may be prevented with advantage, and, by artificial swarming 

 the increase be made by wise selection from the best 

 colonies (222). It must be remembered that it is, generally, 

 quite impossible to prevent swarming when once the bees of a 

 colony have contracted the " swarming fever " (187) — so-called, 

 perhaps, because like any fever that "flesh is heir to," when 

 once it has set in, the arrival of the crisis is inevitable. There- 

 fore, the bee-keeper, desiring to prevent natural swarming, and 

 familiar with the causes which promote it (206), should set 

 himself, in good time, to circumvent them. 



217. Giving Room — One fruitful cause of natural swarming 

 is congestion in the brood chamber, when there is not sufficient 

 room either for ovipositing by the queen, or for honey storing 

 by the bees (187). Therefore, before they are actually needed, 

 frames of comb, or of foundation should be added to the brood 

 nest, and, in the season, new sections or frames to the supers 

 (255). When the honey flow is on, i.e., when nectar is being 

 carried in rapidly, the addition of frames of foundation will 

 not always meet the needs of the case ; because, the demand 

 for vacant cells, both for eggs and honey, becomes too urgent, 

 and, before the foundation can be drawn out into cells, conges- 

 tion may set in, and preparations for swarming begin. In 

 such circumstances, empty combs should be given. If the hive 

 has already its full complement of frames, one or two frames 

 of honey may be removed, the honey extracted (134) and the 

 frames returned to the hive; and this should be repeated 

 weekly, or more frequently, as required. In a pressing case, 

 one or two frames of brood may be removed and given to 

 another stock, the vacancy being filled with empty combs. 

 Thus, not only is the tendency to swarm checked, but the 

 storing of honey is largely increased. Afterwards, when 

 supers are put on, the pressure upon the combs in the brood 

 nest is relieved, and if, as each fresh super is added, one or 

 two of the frames in the lower storey have their honey ex- 

 tracted, and are returned to the centre of the brood nest, or 

 if a frame of foundation be given there, the queen will have 

 sufficient scope for her energies below, the stock for their 



