152 MORE ABOUT SWARMS. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



MORE ABOUT SWARMS. 



I HAVE previously described the issue of a swarm, 

 and the state of things within the hive which leads 

 to it — that it is a forced emigration on a large scale. 

 I have also told you how the bee-keeper often obtains 

 artificial instead of natural swarms when, and as he 

 thinks fit. And I need not add much on this subject, 

 except that it must always be remembered that a good, 

 swarm, whether natural or artificial, must be an early 

 one, according to the old saying : — 



'A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, 

 A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon ; 

 A swarm in July is not worth a fly.' 



It is not true, however, that a July swarm is so worth- 

 less, for bees are always useful, and such a late swarm, 

 if not returned to its own hive, can be given to some 

 weak hive in want of bees. 



Of second swarms, or ' casts,' as they are called, I 

 must say something. When a first swarm departs it 

 leaves behind it a comparatively empty hive, but one 

 that soon will be full again. It also leaves behind it 

 a queen-cell, out of which in a day or two will issue a 

 new sovereign to take the place of the old one who 

 left with the swarm. There is always one such queen- 

 cell — and generally several — at such swarming-time, 

 each containing a young queen. As soon as the first of 

 these young queens comes into the world, her natural 

 instinct is to destroy at once every royal cell and its 



