SWARMING AND HIVINQ. 165 



common occurrence, a hive which like mine, furnishes the 

 means of easily remedying this misfortune, will greatly pro- 

 mote the success of those who practice natural swarming. 

 A very intelligent bee-keeper once assured me, that he must 

 use at least one such hive in his Apiary, for this purpose, 

 even if in other respects it possessed no superior merits. 

 ^5. Bees, as is well known, often refuse to swarm at all\ 

 and most of the swarming hives are so constructed, that \ 

 proper accommodations for storing honey, cannot be fur- I 

 nished to the super-abundant population. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, they often hang for several months, in black 

 masses on the outside of the hive ; and are worse than use- 

 less, as they consume the honey which the others have gath- 

 ered. In my hives, an abundance of room for storing honey 

 can always be given them, 7iot all at once, so as to prevent 

 them from swarming, but by degrees, as their necessities 

 require : so that if they are indisposed, for any reason to 

 swarm, they may have suitable receptacles easily accessible, 

 and furnished with guide comb to make them more attrac- 

 tive, in which to store up any amount of honey they can/ 

 possibly collect. '' 



6. In the common hives, but little can be done to dislodge 

 the bee-moth, when once it has gained the mastery of the 

 bees; whereas in mine, it can be most effeclually rooted 

 out when it has made a lodgment. (See Remarks on Bee- 

 Moth.) 



7. In the common hives, nothing can be done except with 

 great difficulty, to remove the old Queen when her fertility 

 is impaired : whereas in my hives, (as will be shown in the 

 Chapter on Artificial Swarming,) this can easily be effected, 

 so that an Apiary may constantly contain a stock of young 

 Queens, in the full vigor of their re-productive powers. 



I trust that these remarks will convince intelligent Apia- 



