168 ' ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



are thus debarred from a pursuit, which is intensely fascinat- 

 ing, not merely to the lover of Nature, but to every one 

 possessed of an inquiring mind. No man who spends some 

 of his leisure hours in studying the wonderful habits and 

 instincts of bees, will ever complain that he can find noth- 

 ing to fill up his time out of the range of his business, or the 

 gratification of his appetites. Bees may be kept with great 

 advantage, even in large cities, and those who are debarred 

 from every other rural pursuit, may still listen to the sooth- 

 ing hum of the industrious bee, and harvest annually its 

 delicious nectar. 



If the Apiarian could always be on hand during the 

 swarming season, it would still, in many instances, be exceed- 

 ingly inconvenient for him to attend to his bees. How often 

 is the farmer interrupted in the business of hay-making, by 

 the cry that his bees are swarming ; and by the time he has 

 hived them, perhaps a shower comes up, and his hay is in- 

 jured more than the swarm is worth. Thus the keeping of 

 a few bees, instead of a source of profit, often becomes 

 rather an expensive luxury ; and if a very large stock is 

 kept, the difficulties and embarrassments are often most 

 seriously increased. If the weather becomes pleasant after 

 a succession of days unfavorable for swarming, it often hap- 

 pens that several swarms rise at once, and cluster together, 

 to the great annoyance of the Apiarian ; and not unfre- 

 quently, in the noise and confusion, other swarms fly off, 

 and are entirely lost. I have seen the Apiarian so perplexed 

 and exhausted under such circumstances, as to be almost 

 ready to wish that he had never seen a bee. 



3. The managing of bees by natural swarming, must, in 

 our country, almost entirely prevent the establishment of 

 large Apiaries. 



Even if it were possible, in this way, to multiply bees 



