ABTIFICIAL SWAEMS. 261 



THIS MATTER TOO OFTEN DELATED. 



I am aware that this matter -will be apt to be put 

 oS'too long; " wait and see if they don't swarm," will 

 be the motto of too many, and when the season is over, 

 drive them. Perhaps a good swarm has set outside 

 the hive, all through the best of the honey season, 

 and done nothing, while they could have half filled a 

 hive; but this is all lost now, as well as the best chances 

 for getting cells. Let me impress the necessity of 

 doing it in season, when it will pay. If you intend 

 to have a swarm from every stock that can spare one, 

 begin when nature points out the proper time, which 

 is, when the regular ones begin to issue. It must, in- 

 deed, be a poor season when there are none. 



IS THE AGE OF THE QtTEBN IMPORTANT? 



There is another object effected in this way, con- 

 sidered by some apiarians as very important. It is the 

 change of the queens in the old stock. A young queen 

 is thought to be "much more prolific than an old one." 

 They even recommend keeping none ." over two or 

 three years old," and give directions how they may 

 be renewed. But as I have been unable to discover 

 any diSerence in relation to the age in this respect, I 

 shall not at present take much time to discuss it. It 

 is well enough, when we can take our choice without 

 trouble, to preserve a young queen. When we con- 

 sider that there are but few queens but what will de- 

 posit three times as many eggs in a season as are 

 matured, it looks as if it would hardly pay to take 

 much trouble to change them. At what time the 



