SWAKMING OR NON-SWARMING. 107 



apparently will never both fill its hive with combs and 

 gather as much honey as the old one already full, weigh- 

 ing perhaps 30 lb. or 40 lb. But wait a little : the 

 swarm which is far behind during the first ten days, 

 afterwards rapidly gains upon the old one, and generally 

 overtakes it when they are both about 70 lb. or 80 lb. 

 each ; the young one now goes ahead, at the rate of 2 lb. 

 for 1 lb. And, be.sides the great superiority of the first 

 swarm over the hive which did not swarm, there are the 

 mother hive and probably a second swarm, weighing by 

 the end of the season from 40 lb. to 80 lb. each. Of 

 course these weights will not be gained in seasons not 

 remarkable for honey-gathering ; and in unfavourable 

 years, when bees have to be fed, the fewer hives we have 

 the better, — as, in times of calamity, or famine, or want of 

 work, the working classes of Manchester and other cities 

 find it cheaper to give up house and take lodgings — two 

 or three families swarming into one house, instead of each \ 

 family paying rent for a whole or separate house. But, 

 even in ordinary seasons for honey-gathering, the swarm- 

 ing system is by far the most lucrative. 



If asked to explaia how it is that swarms put into 

 empty hives gather more honey and do better than hives 

 not weakened by swarming, we might not be able to do 

 so satisfactorily ; neither can we explain how it is that a 

 spring-struck verbena grows more vigorously and does 

 better than an autumn-struck one. As with verbenas so 

 with bees : young ones do better and run quite ahead of 

 old ones. 



However, we may venture to guess, or give our opinion, 

 as to the reasons why good early swarms of the same or 

 current season outdo those that never swarm at all 



1st, The stimulus of an empty hive makes the bees 

 work harder. In the absence of combs, all the eggs laid 



