CHAPTER VII. 



Artificial Swarming. 



469. Every practical bee-keeper is aware of the uncer- 

 tainty of natural swarming. Under no circumstances can it 

 be confidently relied on. While some colonies swarm repeat- 

 edly, others, apparently as strong in numbers, and rich in 

 stores, refuse to swarm, even in seasons in all respects highly 

 propitious. Such colonies, on examination, will often be 

 found to have taken no steps for raising young queens. Be- 

 sides, it frequently happens that, when all the preparations 

 have been made for swarming, the weather proves so inclem- 

 ent that the yoimg queens approach maturity before the old 

 ones can leave, and are all destroyed. Under such circum- 

 stances, swarming, for that season, is almost certain to be 

 prevented. The young queens are also sometimes destroyed, 

 because of some sudden, and perhaps only temporary, suspen- 

 sion of the honey-harvest; for bees seldom colonize, even if 

 all their preparations are completed, unless the blossoms are 

 yielding an abundant supply of honey. 



The numerous perplexities pertaining to natural- swarming,' 

 have, for ages, directed the attention of cultivators to the 

 importance of devising some more reliable method for increas- 

 ing the number of their colonies. 



Dr. Scudamore quotes Columella as giving directions for 

 making artificial swarms. Although he taught how to furnish 

 a queen to a destitute colony, and how to transfer brood-comb, 

 with maturing bees, from a strong stock to a weak one, he 

 does not appear to have formed entirely new colonies by any 

 artificial process. His treatise on bee-keeping shows not only 

 that he was well acquainted with previous writers on the sub- 



243 



