ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 209 



to be successful ia the cultivation of bees, is a certain, rather 

 than a rapid, multiplication of stocks. A single colony 

 doubling every year would io ten years increase to 1024 

 stocks, and in twenty years to over a million ! It would 

 require, therefore, but a very few years to stock our whole 

 country with bees, if colonies could only be doubled annu- 

 ally ; and an increase of even one-third, would before long, 

 give us bees enough. This rate of increase I should always 

 encourage in the swarming season, even if, in the Fall, I 

 reduced my slocks (see Union of Stocks) to the Spring 

 number. In the long run, it will keep the colonies in a much 

 more prosperous condition, and secure from them the largest 

 yield of honey. 



I have never myself hesitated, if necessary, to sacrifice 

 one or more colonies, in order to ascertain a single fact, and 

 it would require a separate volume, quite as large as this, 

 to detail the various experiments which I have made on the 

 single subject of Artificial Swarming. The practical bee- 

 keeper, however, should never, for a moment, lose sight of 

 the important distinction between an Apiary managed prin- 

 cipally for the purposes of experiment and discovery, and 

 one conducted almost exclusively witn reference to pecuni' 

 ary profit. Any bee-keeper can easily experiment with my 

 hives ; but I would recommend him to do so, at first, only 

 on a small scale, and if profit is his object, to follow the 

 directions furnished in this treatise, until he is sure that he 

 has discovered others which are preferable. These cautions 

 are given to prevent persons from incilrring serious losses 

 and disappointments, if they use hives, which, if they are 

 not on their guard, may tempt them into rash and unpro- 

 fitable courses, by allowing so easily of all manner of ex- 

 periments. 



Let the practical Apiarian remember that the less he disturbs 

 IS* 



