ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 203 



But I almost despair of being able to convince even the 

 most experienced Apiarians, of the ease and safety with 

 which bees may be managed on my plan, until they have 

 actually been eye-witnesses of its successful operation. 



I can make an artificial colony in the way above described 

 in ten minutes from the time that I open the hive, and if I 

 see the queen as quickly as I often do, in not more than five 

 minutes. Fifteen minutes will be a very liberal allowance 

 of time to complete the whole work. If I had an Apiary 

 of a hundred colonies, in less than a week, if the weather 

 was pleasant, I could without any assistance easily finish 

 the business of swarming for the whole season. 



But how can the Apiarian, if he delays the formation of 

 artificial swarms until nearly the season for natural swarm- 

 ing, be sure that his bees will not swarm in the usual way ? 

 Must he not still be constantly on hand, or run the risk of 

 losing many of his best swarms ? I come now to the en- 

 tirely novel plan by which such objections are completely 

 obviated. If the Apiarian decides that he can most advan- 

 tageously multiply his colonies by artificial swarming, he 

 must see that all his fertile queens are deprived of their 

 wings, so as to be unable to lead off new swarms. As an 

 old queen never leaves the hive except to accompany a new 

 swarm, the loss of her wings does not, in the least interfere 

 with her usefulness, or with the attachment of the bees. 

 Occasionally, a wingless queen is so bent on emigrating, 

 that in spite of her inability to fly, she tries to go off with a 

 swarm ; she has " a will," but contrary to ihe old maxim 

 she can find " no way," but helplessly falls upon the ground 

 instead of gaily mounting into the air. If the bees succeed 

 in finding her, they will never desert her, but cluster direct- 

 ly around her, and may thus be easily secured by the Apia- 

 rian. If she is not found, the bees will return to the parent 



