188 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



now seldom come forth before the twentieth of June, 

 in this region of country, unless in some favorable 

 locality where a supply of wild honey-producing 

 flowers still exists. There are one or two such 

 places a few miles distant from my residence, where 

 the bees keep up the good old practice of swarming 

 in the latter part of May or first of June, notwith- 

 standing the advent of the bee or wax moth, and 

 the change of times and things elsewhere. This, I 

 conceive, is pretty strong evidence of the great ad- 

 vantage to be derived from an abundant supply of 

 food, naturally or artificially, from early spring until 

 the clover season. 



The time of swarming is varied in proportion to 

 the latitude and circumstances, such as have just 

 been referred to. In California the swarming season 

 usually commences early in April ; some seasons a 

 few swarms come off in the latter part of March, but 

 this is the exception, not the rule. First swarms 

 frequently fill up their hive and send off one or 

 more swarms the same season ; but even there they 

 are governed by the yield of honey, kind of weather, 

 &c. the same as here. 



All the principal bee-keepers in California have 

 adopted artificial swarming, and seem to prefer it 

 to natural swarming for increasing their stocks, as 

 being more certain and profitable in its results. It 

 is to the interest of bee-keepers to investigate the 

 matter closely, and compare the results of the two 

 systems, in order to adopt the best. Where bees sell 

 readily at one hundred dollars per hive (as has been 



