ii4 BEES AND THE WEATHER 



weather was bound to continue, so that in that 

 respect they were looked upon as a kind of 

 weatherglass. That, as a general rule, fine 

 weather prevails at and after swarming time 

 there can be little doubt, but it is by no means 

 an invariable rule. The truth is, that bees do 

 not, as a rule, swarm unless the weather is already 

 favourable. They seldom issue from a hive in 

 cloudy or windy weather, and it follows that when 

 the air is calm and clear, the time, in fact, when 

 swarms issue, the conditions are usually more or 

 less settled. Mankind, if gifted with the faculty 

 of observation, can premise this settled period 

 without reference to the bees at all. 



On the other hand, I have known swarms leave 

 their hives on a fine day which was sandwiched 

 in a period of wretched, unsettled weather. The 

 original preparations for swarming, the building 

 of queen cells, etc., are begun many days ahead of 

 the actual swarming. If the weather changes 

 after the queen cells are commenced, they are 

 sometimes cut down and swarming put off until 

 the weather improves. On the other hand, they 

 may be left, and the young queen may actually 

 come out of her cell and remain separated by the 

 bees from the old queen during the bad period. 

 On the first fine day, however, the swarm will 

 issue, and it sometimes happens that in the excite- 

 ment the young queen comes out herself, and the 

 unusual sight is seen of two clusters from the same 



