FORMATION OF SWARMS. AL 
all; while, on the other hand, they will in some instances swarm, nat- 
withstanding room be given them far exceeding their wants (though 
these instances are rare). I am knowing of one particular instance of 
a colony that occupied a bee-house for twelve years, without swarm- 
ing, but on the thirteenth threw off a swarm. 
Some apiarians consider it natural for bees to swarm, and that any 
device or arrangement tending to prevent this, is ruinous to the bees; 
and consequently they condemn all non-swarming hives, without 
judge or jury. That it is natural for bees to swarm, without regard 
to causes, Iam not prepared to admit. They appear to me to be 
governed more by instinct and reason, or by instinctive reason ; for if 
a swarm be put into a large box or room, affording a large supply of 
surplus foom, we find that, in nineteen cases out of twenty, they will 
not swarm for years, although every meansis afforded them to swarm 
that there would be if in a hive one foot square. Now they have a 
very good reason for not swarming, viz, they have all the room 
necessary, and that is all they desire. But put a swarm into a hive 
one foot square, and the result will be very unlike the other; for in 
the latter case, in all probability, the colony will throw off a swarm 
every season; and the reason is a good one: the hive did not afford 
sufficient room to accommodate the whole population, hence the ne- 
cessity of a portion of the family emigrating. Butas previously stated, 
there are extreme cases, when neither of the above causes, and others 
combined, are sufficient to produce the result. 
Notwithstanding what has already been said on the subject, it 
is evident, I think, that the prime or moving cause of emigration 
is, the crowded state of the hive, produced by the wonderful fruit- 
fulness of the queen. There are other causes, however, that are 
subservient to this, and are made to operate in favor of the desired re- 
sults, The amount of brood produced by a single queen during a season 
is almost incredible; for if we examine a stock hive on the first of 
February, it will be found generally to contain not more than three 
or four thousand bees (and often less); yet this same hive will, during 
the month of June, throw off a swarm containing in numbers from 
twelve thousand to twenty-five thousand, and in some instances to 
even thirty thousand, and not unfrequently will a second swarm issue 
