FOUNDATION OF A BEE COLONY 25 



always occupies one portion of it, usually the centre 

 of the top. If we open a hive in the winter, we 

 find the outer combs quite unoccupied by bees 

 and usually empty, those on the outside being 

 cleared first before the colony has dwindled in 

 numbers. The feet of bees are provided with 

 hooks, by which they attach themselves to each 

 other, and it is really wonderful to think what an 

 enormous weight the upper members of a cluster- 

 ing swarm must be supporting. 



The natural method of increase of bee colonies 

 has always been known as swarming. The word 

 swarm is of old German origin, and is derived from 

 the same root as swear. It really means a buzzing, 

 and is doubtless accounted for by the great uproar 

 which takes place when the bees issue from the old 

 hive. Having been thus applied, the word has 

 come now to mean in ordinary language, a crowd 

 or multitude of people or things. 



Swarming time is the most exciting period of 

 the year, both for the bees and the bee-keeper. 

 Many circumstances go to make it a very vital 

 matter for the bees. So soon as the weather has 

 become warm and settled, either about the end 

 of May or the beginning of June, those colonies 

 which have become too large for their quarters 

 set about preparations for founding a new one. 

 It is singular that this is almost an isolated 

 instance in Nature, if indeed it is not the only 

 one, of the old members founding the new home 



