184 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



I have most thoroughly tested, in the only way in whieh 

 it can be practiced in the ordinary hives, this last plan of 

 artificial swarming, and do not hesitate to say that it does 

 Dot possess the very slightest practical value ; and as this is the 

 method which Apiarians have usually tried, it is not strange 

 that they have almost unanimously pronounced Artificial 

 swarming to be utterly worthless. The experience of 

 Dzierzon on this point has been the same with my own. 



Another method of artificial swarming has been zealous- 

 )y advocated, which, if it could only be made to answer, 

 would be, of all conceivable plans the most effectual, and 

 as it would require the smallest amount of labor, experience, 

 or skill, would be everywhere practiced A number of hives 

 must be put in connection with each other, so as to communi- 

 cate by holes which allow the bees to travel from any one 

 apartment to the others. The bees, on this plan, are to 

 colonize themselves, and in time, a single swarm will, of its 

 own accord, multiply so as to form a large number of inde- 

 pendent families, each one possessing its own queen, and 

 all living in perfect harmony. 



This method so beautiful and fascinating in theory, has 

 been repeatedly tried with various ingenious modifications, 

 but in every instance, as far as I know, it has proved an en- 

 tire failure. It will always be found if bees are allowed to 

 pass from one hive to another, that they will still, for the 

 most part, confine their breeding operations to a single 

 apartment, if it is of the ordinary size, while the others will 

 be used, chiefly for the storing of honey. This is almost 

 invariably the case, if the additional room is given by col- 

 lateral or side boxes, as the queen seldom enters such apart- 

 ments ,for the purpose of breeding. If the new hive is 

 directly below that in which the swarm is first lodged, then 

 if the connections are suitable, the queen will be almosj 



