SWAKMING. 229 



cells finished, &o. A stock may cast swarms ia June, 

 and a buckwheat swarm in August, on the same prin- 

 ciple. 



WHEN IT IS USELESS TO EXPECT MORE SWARMS. 



Therefore, bee-keepers having but few stocks, will 

 find it unnecessary to watch their bees when the last 

 of the first swarms came out sixteen or eighteen days 

 before. Much trouble may be thus saved by under- 

 standing this matter. During my early days in bpe- 

 keeping, I wished for the greatest possible increase of 

 stocks. I had some that had cast the first swarm, and 

 soon after clustered out again. I vainly watched them 

 for weeks and months, expecting another swarm. But 

 had I understood the modus operandi, as the reader 

 may now understand it, I should have been through 

 with all my anxiety, as well as watching, in a fort- 

 night. As it was, it lasted two months. I found no 

 one to give me any light on this subject, or even tell 

 me when the swarming season was over, and I came 

 very near watching all summer ! 



PLURALITY OF QUEENS DESTROYED. 



When the bees, queens, or all together, decide that 

 ni> more swarms are to issue, the : plurality of queens 

 is destroyed, and but one is left. It is probable that 

 the oldest and strongest queen dispatches the others, 

 generally while in the cells. 



I once had some artificial queens reared, as an ex- 

 periment, from common eggs, on the top of a hive, in 



