SWARMING. 195 



swarmed before being quite full ; it seemed as if some- 

 thing like a preparation beforehand was requisite. I 

 knew of no means, for a long time, that would decide 

 positively ; when it occurred to me, if I examined the 

 old stock imm^ediately after the first swarm had left, I 

 should find some prepar^ions if there were any ; a 

 thing so simple and easy that I felt somewhat morti- 

 fied not to have thought of it before. The first stock 

 ' I looked at revealed the secret. I examined it the 

 evening of the day that a swarm had left ; I was grat- 

 ifiedby finding two finished cells on the lower edges 

 of the combs ; other cells were in different stages of 

 progression, from those containing an egg to the full de- 

 veloped larva. Several more hives showed the same 

 result. I now got bold enough to examine some pre- 

 vious to swarming, as I have already explained. 



MR. MINER NOT CORRECT. 



Mr. T. B. Miner, in his work, has allowed the prep- 

 aration of queen cells previous to swarming, but he 

 has put off the time of the swarm issuing eight or nine 

 days too long. That is, he has the young queen ma- 

 tured so that she commences piping first, which does 

 not occur more than one time in fifty. 



Now I think it more than probable that many read- 

 ers will have some doubts in regard to my statements 

 about this swarming matter. Yet I think I can give 

 directions suf&ciently particular that they may remove 

 them themselves. They should bear in mind that 

 they have no right to be positive off any subject with 

 out an investigation. 



