SWARMING. 183 



mother stock when the swarm will follow, and the experi- 

 ment come to a very unsatisfactory termination. Perhaps 

 those that behave so foolishly, have so recently entered 

 society, that they do not know what course of conduct is 

 becoming to them. Whenever they behave in this man- 

 ner, it is well to confine the bees to the hive — giving them 

 air — and keep them prisoners a day or two, until thorough- 

 ly sobered. Then if they are without a queen, give them 

 one, or the means of rearing one. 



It may be accepted as a rule, that all after-swarms must 

 be out by the eighteenth day after the first. I never found 

 an exception, untess it may be considered as such when a 

 swarm leaves, seven or eight weeks after the first. But 

 these I consider rather in the light of first swarms, as they 

 issue under similar circumstances, leaving the combs in the 

 old hive filled with brood, queen cells finished, etc. A 

 hive may cast swarms in June, and a buckwheat-swarm in 

 August, on the same principle. 



Therefore, bee-keepers having but few hives, will find it 

 useless 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 a little knowledge of facts. 

 During my early days in bee-keeping, I -was anxious for 

 the greatest possible increase of stocks. I had some that 

 had cast a first swarm, and soon after, clustered out again. 

 I watched them vainly for weeks and months, expecting 

 another swarm. But, had I understood the " modus oper- 

 andi" as the reader may now understand it, my anxiety as 

 well as watching, would have been at an end in a fortnight. 

 As it was, it lasted two months. I found no one to give 

 me any light on the subject, or even tell me when the 

 swarming season was over, and I came vei'y near watching 

 all summer! 



