72 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



suppose tliat 2 lb. of wax is manufactured from 20 lb. of 

 honey. Xow, in good-sized hives there are about 2 lb. 

 of wax. We have known a swarm fill, or nearly fill, its 

 hive with combs, and gain about 28 lb. weight in ten 

 days. What a stupendous amount of work these young 

 colonists performed in ten days ! 



2d, The combs of swarms are sweet, and free from a 

 superabundance of bee - bread ; therefore the cakes of 

 brood will yield a young bee from almost every cell, 

 making the hatch of the swarm considerably larger than 

 that of the old hive. By the end of a favourable season 

 the swarm is more populous than the other which we are 

 comparing with it. Even a second swarm, in honey 

 years, will sometimes pull itself abreast the stock or 

 mother hive, with a weight of 30 lb. to gain. 



3d, By swarming we double and often treble the num- 

 ber of our hives annually, and therefore have two or 

 three queens laying instead of one. By-and-by it will be 

 seen more clearly how invaluable these additional swarms 

 are to a bee-keeper, and therefore the superiority of the 

 swarming system over the non-swarming one. 



4th, By the adoption of the swarming mode of manage- 

 ment we can change our stock of hives every year — that 

 is to say, we can set aside one of the swarms for stock, and 

 take the honey from the old one and other swarm, and 

 thus the combs of our stock-hives are full of new sweet 

 combs, and free from foul brood, which is a great advan- 

 tage. Hives with old combs are objectionable for many 

 reasons. 



Besides all these considerations, there is, in the swarm- 

 ing system well carried out, the certainty op success in 

 bee-keeping. On the non- swarming system, hives are 

 comparatively weak in bees in early spring ; whereas, on 

 the swarming system (as we recommend it to be done), 

 the hives are of great strength and power even in early 



