WHY DO BEES SWARM 1 ? 77 



CHAPTER XIV. 



WHY DO BEES SWARM? 



' Why do Bees Swarm?" The answer, stuffed into the proverbial 

 nutshell, resolved itself into this: "It is one out of the many 

 methods Nature has of distributing and perpetuating her species." 

 True, there is a vast difference between Nature's method of dis- 

 tributing bees into new localities and that of other animals whose 

 offspring leave the dam singly, or, seeking a mate, strike off to 

 find pastures new. The offspring of bees leave accompanied by their 

 dam, if it be the first spring swarm, provisioned for the journey, 

 and ready to construct some of the furniture necessary for making 

 a start in house-keeping on their own account. What is the cause 

 of this extraordinary exodus is an effect that is followed from a 

 cause. What is that cause, and how is it brought about? These 

 are two out of many questions that I propose to deal with here 

 — both more or less useful to the inexperienced bee-keeper. For 

 want of such information many a valuable swarm of bees has been 

 lost, whereas, had the signs been properly interpreted, many of 

 them would have been saved. 



It is admitted by all, both scientific and practical, bee-keepers 

 that Francois Huber, who wrote his researches on this subject 

 more than 100 years ago, was the greatest inquirer into bee life 

 that ever lived. He is always looked upon as the Solomon of bee- 

 keepers, yet on p. 220 he says: "Therefore, to preserve their race, 

 it is necessary that the old queen conduct the first swarm. But 

 what is the secret means employed by Nature to induce her de- 

 parture ? I am ignorant of it." On p. 240 he again says, "It 

 has been demonstrated that the principal motive of the young 

 females departing when hives swarm is their insuperable antip- 

 athy to each other. All the young queens are successively treated 

 alike in hives that are to swarm. But the conduct of the bees 

 towards an old queen destined to conduct the first swarm is very 

 different. Always accustomed to respect fertile queens, they 

 (the workers) do not forget what they owe to her ; they allow 

 her the most uncontrolled liberty. She is permitted to approach 

 the royal cells, and if she even attempts to destroy them no oppo- 

 sition is presented by the bees. Thus her inclinations are not 



