210 ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



the stocks on which he relies for surplus honey, the better. 

 After they are properly lodged in their new hive, they ought 

 by all means to be allowed to carry on their labors without 

 any interruption. Their hive ought not to be opened, ex- 

 cept for some very sufficient reason, and the bees should 

 never be so much interfered with, as to feel that they hold 

 their possessions by a very uncertain tenure. Such an im- 

 pression will often very seriously impair their zeal for accumu- 

 lation. The object of giving the control over every comb in 

 the hive, is not to enable the bee-keeper to be incessantly 

 taking them in and out, and subjecting the bees to all sorts 

 of annoyances. Unless he is conducting a course of ex- 

 periments, such interference will be almost as silly as the 

 conduct of children who pull up the seeds which they 

 have planted, to see if they have sprouted, or how much 

 they have grown. If, after these cautions, any still choose 

 to disregard them, the blame of their losses should fall, not 

 upon the hive, but upon their own mismanagement. 



Let me not, for a moment, be understood as wishing to 

 discourage investigation, or to intimate that perfection has 

 been so nearly attained that no more important discoveries 

 remain to be made. On the contrary, I should be glad to 

 learn that many who have the time and means,, are disposed 

 to use the facilities furnished by hives which give the control 

 of each comb, to experiment on a large scale ; and I hope 

 that every intelligent bee-keeper who follows my plans, will 

 experiment at least on a small scale. In this way, we may 

 soon expect to see, more satisfactorily elucidated, some 

 points in the natural history of the bee, which are still in- 

 volved in doubt. 



Having described the way in which forced swarms are 

 made, both in common hives and in my own, when the 

 Apiarian wishes in one season merely to double his colonies, 



