CHAPTER V. 

 BEE MANIPULATION. 



§ I. HIVING SWARMS. 



[HE spring is the best period at which to com- 

 mence an apiary, and swarming time is a good 

 starting-point for the new bee-keeper. The 

 period known as the swarming season is during the 

 months of May and June. With a very forward stock, 

 and in exceedingly fine weather, bees do occasionally 

 swarm in April. The earlier the swarm the greater is its 

 value. If bees swarm in July they seldom gather suffi- 

 cient to sustain 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 groivn 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 cases, 

 be given to them ; but should the multiplication of stocks 



