22 THE APIARY. 



themselves through the winter, though by careful feeding 

 they may easily be kept alive, if hived early in the 

 month. 



The cause of a swarm leaving the stock-hive is, that 

 the population has grown too large for it. Swarming is 

 a provision of Nature for remedying the inconvenience of 

 overcrowding, and is the method whereby the bees seek 

 for space in which to increase their stores. By putting 

 on "super-hives," the required relief may, in many 

 CcLses, be given to them ; but should the multiplication of 

 stocks be desired, the bee-keeper will defer increasing 

 the space until the swarm has issued forth. In May, 

 when the spring has been fine, the queen-bee is very 

 active in laying eggs, and the increase in a strong, 

 healthy hive is so prodigious that emigration is neces- 

 sary, or the bees would cease to work. 



It is now a well-established fact that the old queen 

 goes forth with the first swarm, preparation having been 

 made to supply her place as soon as the bees determine 

 upon the necessity of a division of their commonwealth. 

 Thus the sovereignty of the old hive, after the first 

 swarm has issued, devolves upon a young queen. 



As soon as the swarm builds combs in its new abode, 

 the emigrant-queen, being impregnated and her ovaries 

 full, begins laying eggs in the cells, and thereby speedily 

 multiplies the labourers of the new colony. Although 

 there is now amongst apiarians no doubt that the old 

 queen quits her home, there is no rule as to the compo- 



