36 liec-li'cf iHiiii III \' irtiiiiii . 



or fours weeks is done by bees which come from the parent colony, it follows 

 that when the total worker-force remains in the parent hive whatever 

 would be needed in the establishment of the new colonies is available as 

 surplus ; in other words, the nectar available in the flora of the locality is, 

 ii. one instance, turned into surplus honey for the benefit of the owner of 

 the bees, and in the other into more bees which cannot do more than exist 

 for the remainder of the season. 



What has been said so far does not apply to the best honey districts of 

 this State where the honey fiow is heavy, and more or less continuous for 

 the greater part of Spring, Summer, and Autumn ; but even when the limit 

 to increase is one of labour and material rather than of sources of nectar 

 it is found more profitable to have the same total force of bees in a lesser 

 number of colonies. More surplus can be obtained from one colony contain- 

 mg 30,000 bees than from two containing 15,000 each, because the number 

 necessary to attend to domestic work such as the rearing of brood, carry- 

 ing water, &c., is practicallv the same in the smaller as in the larger 

 colony, the latter has therefore a much larger number of bees available for 

 the gathering of nectar and is less influenced by changes of temperature. 



The prevention or control of swarming is one of the most difficult 

 problems of bee culture. Systematic efforts to eliminate the swarming 

 impulse by breeding all queens from the mothers of non-swarming stocks 

 have so far only resulted in reducing the percentage of swarming, owing to 

 the inability of queen breeders to control the mating of the sexes as is 

 done in the case of animals and birds. Beekeepers are therefore compelled 

 to confine their efforts to cope with the swarming problem to the removal of 

 contributing causes and to counteracting the effects which swarming has 

 on honey production. Apart from the natural impulse, which is much 

 stronger in some races, some strains, and even some individual colonies 

 of bees than in others, climate, season, and flora have great influence upon 

 the swarming propensity. These are factors beyond the control of the 

 beekeeper; there are, however, others which may be controlled, more or 

 less, and excessive swarming prevented thereby. The principal inducements 

 for bees to swarm are — 



1 . A crowded condition of the bees, 



2. The presence of large numbers of drones. 



3. An old or failing queen, 



I. Hi\es may become crowded with bees early in September if win- 

 tered in single stories ; as soon as the bees occupy all the combs, an upper 

 story, with drawn empty combs, should be put on to allow the bees to 

 spread out as their numbers increase and the weather becomes warmer. 

 The beginner is at a great disadvantage in not having another set of combs, 

 and the only thing he can do is to remove one or two combs from the 

 brood chamber to the super (upper story) and put two frames with full 

 sheets of foundation alongside the outside brood combs in the lower hive 

 body. The bees will soon draw the foundation into comb, and the combs 

 removed to the super will induce them to commence work there. Frames 

 with starters only should not be used before swarming time, as drone 

 comb is invariably built in them at this period. It must be pointed out 

 that the addition of a set of frames with starters, or a section super, does 

 not spread the bees out, because there is no connexion between the brood 

 combs and the starters in the super. In a wild bees' nest, or when a set 

 of drawn combs are gixen, the comb is continuous, and therefore, in the 



