FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 329 



Clearly, the best years were not all in the past, for I 

 never had so good a year before. It may be well to add 

 that I'm not likely to have so good a year again. But I 

 don't know. 



THE SWARMING PROBLEM. 



Somewhat elusive still, and perhaps always. The 

 foundation treatment (page 186) has not been followed, 

 because it did not prove itself entirely reliable. In strug- 

 gling with the swarming problem there are a few things 

 that may be relied upon with some degree of certainty. 

 A swarm that has been hived in an empty hive this season 

 will not send forth a swarm this year, with a few rare 

 exceptions. Equally safe from swarming is a colony 

 whose queen has been removed and the colony allowed to 

 rear a new queen, provided only one queen is allowed to 

 mature. Also a colony kept queenless about ten days and 

 then given a laying queen of the current year's rearing. I 

 have more faith than formerly in destroying queen-cells. 

 In some cases it makes no difference whatever, but in a 

 good many cases destroying queen-cells once or several 

 times will entirely prevent swarming. So the following 

 plan has been used : 



Every week or ten days queen-cells are destroyed, 

 and that is kept up so long as nothing beyond eggs or 

 very young larvae are found in the queen-cells. When 

 cells are found nearly ready to seal, or already sealed, 

 that shows a persistent determination to swarm, and we 

 remove the queen besides destroying the cells. After the 

 colony has been queenless ten days, we destroy cells, and 

 give them a young laying queen. Lacking a young 

 queen, we give them their old queen or some other old 

 queen. If an old queen is given, further watch must be 

 kept, but if the queen be of the current year there is no 

 need to go into that brood-chamber again that season 

 after finding at the next visit that the young queen is 

 laying. 



Sometimes the absence of eggs and young brood 



