232 AETIFICIAL SWARMING. 



ficient, such a colony is very apt to perish in the succeeding 

 Winter ; whereas in a large hive, the honey stored up in a 

 fruitful season, is a reserve supply, for time of need. In 

 very large hive^, I have seen accumulations of honey 

 which have been untouched for years, while by their side, 

 stocks of the same age, in small hives, have perished by 

 starvation. 



A good early swarm in any favorable situation, will the 

 first season, fill a hive that holds a bushel ; and if there is 

 any location in which they cannot do this, a doubled swarm 

 should be put into the hive, or, unless the non-swarming plan 

 is pursued, bee-keeping, as far as profit is concerned, may 

 be abandoned. But it may be objected that if the swarm is 

 not strong enough to fill the hive, the bees will often suffer 

 from the cold in Winter, and become too much redCiced in 

 numbers, to build early and rapidly, in the ensuing Spring. 

 This is undoubtedly true, and hence the importance of put- 

 ting, at the start, a generous allowance of bees into a hive, 

 unless, as on my plan, the requisite strength can be given to 

 ihem, at a subsequent period. The hive, if large, should be 

 all the more carefully protected from extremes of cold, in 

 order to give the bees an opportunity of developing, to the 

 best advantage, their natural powers of reproduction. 



In such a hive, the queen will be able to breed almost 

 every month in the year, even in the coldest climates where 

 bees can flourish, and on the return of Spring, thousands of 

 young bees will be found in it, which could not have been 

 bred in a small, or badly protected hive. The Polish hives 

 have already been referred to. Some of these hold about 

 three bushels, and yet the bees swarm with great regularity, 

 and the swarms are often of immense size. These hives 

 are admirably protected, and at the time of hiving, at least 

 four times the number of bees are lodged in them, that are 



