238 ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
CHAPTER VII. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
469. Every practical bee-keeper is aware of the uncer- 
tainty of natural swarming (406). Under no circumstan- 
ces, can it be confidently relied on. While some colonies 
swarm repeatedly, others, apparently as strong in numbers, 
and rich in stores, refuse to swarm, even in seasons in all 
respects highly propitious. Such colonies, on examination, 
will often be found to have taken no steps for raising young 
queens. Besides, it frequently happens that, when all the 
preparations have been made for swarming, the weather 
proves so inclement that the young queens approach 
maturity before the old ones can leave, and are all destroyed. 
Under such circumstances, swarming, for that season, is 
almost certain to be prevented. The young queens are also 
sometimes destroyed, because of some sudden, and perhaps 
only temporary, suspension of the honey-harvest; for bees 
seldom colonize, even if all their preparations are completed, 
unless the blossoms are yielding an abundant supply of 
honey. 
The numerous perplexities pertaining to natural swarm- 
ing, have, for ages, directed the attention of cultivators to 
the importance of devising some more reliable method for 
increasing the number of their colonies. — 
Dr. Scudamore quotes Columella as giving directions for 
making artificial swarms. Although he taught how to fur- 
nish a queen to a destitute colony, and how to transfer 
brood-comb, with maturing bees, from a strong stock to a 
weak one, he does not appear to have formed entirely new 
colonies by any artificial process. His treatise on bee-keep- 
