164 SWARMING AND HIYlNCf- 



with energy, so long as the pretensions of several rival 

 Queens are unsettled. 



3. Another very serious objection to Natural Swarming, 

 as practiced with the common hives, is the inability of the 

 Apiarian who wishes rapidly to multiply his colonies, to aid 

 his late and small swarms, so as to build them up into vigor- 

 ous stocks. The time and money which are ordinarily spent 

 upon small colonies, are almost always thrown away ; by 

 far the larger portion of them never survive the Winter, and 

 the majority of those that do, are so enfeebled, as to be of 

 little or no value. If they escape being robbed by stronger 

 stocks, or destroyed by the moth, they seldom recruit in sea- 

 son to swarm, and very often the feeding must be repeated, 

 the second Fall, or they will at last perish. I doubt not that 

 many of my readers will, from their own experience, en- 

 dorse every word of these remarks, as true to the very let- 

 ter. All who have ever attempted to multiply colonies by 

 nursing and feeding small swarms, on the ordinary plans, 

 have found it attended with nothing but loss and vexation. 

 The more a man has of such stocks, the poorer he is : for 

 by their weakness, they are constantly tempting his strong 

 swarms to evil courses ; so that at last, they prefer to live as 

 far as they can, by stealing, rather than by habits of honest 

 industry ; and if the feeble colonies escape being plundered, 

 they often become mere nurseries for raising a plentiful sup- 

 ply of moths, to ravage his whole Apiary. 



I have already shown, in what way by the use of my 

 hives, the smallest swarms that ever issue, may be so man- 

 aged as to become powerful stocks. In the same way the 

 Apiarian can easily strengthen all his colonies which are 

 feeble in Spring. 



4. As the loss of the young Queens in the parent stock 

 after it has swarniedj and in the after-swarms, is- a very 



