72 BEE-KEEPING FOR PROFIT 
Each bee in a swarm usually carries suf- 
ficient food to meet its requirements for one 
day, so that should a bee-keeper receive a 
swarm from a distance he should feed it as 
soon as it arrives. All swarms should be fed 
if the natural supply of nectar be scanty. 
Excessive Swarming.—Where bees are given 
to excessive swarming some _ bee-keepers 
trim one of the wings of the queen to hinder 
her flight,—a method also adopted to dis- 
tinguish the ages of queens: the right wing 
of one year’s queens being cut, and the left 
of those of the following year. Of course, 
the wings of a virgin queen should never be 
trimmed, for mating is thereby prevented. 
Swarm Preventing.—The bee-keeper who 
works for surplus honey does all he can to 
prevent his bees from swarming, and thus 
increases both his stock of bees and supplies 
of honey. 
Anyone who has even but slightly studied 
the ways of bees will have noticed that they 
store their honey above the brood in response 
to one of the wonderful instincts bestowed 
upon them by nature, and it is by taking 
advantage of this fact that the bee-keeper 
who is working for profit assures himself of 
one point of success. It is the method of 
