UNITING STOCKS. 319 



hire. I have strong hopes that after a first swarm has been 

 allowed to issue, it may be used to prevent all afler-swarm- 

 ing : for if, as soon as piping is heard, it is adjusted to the 

 hive, and kept in place about a week, the bees may allow 

 the young queens to engage in mortal combat, and the sur- 

 vivor will rule as mistress of the hive. 



By using what I shall call my " non-swarmer," the most 

 timid persons may effectually prevent the issue of swarms. 

 If a little smoke is used when it is adjusted to the hive, not 

 llie least annoyance will be experienced from the bees. I 

 have ascertained, that by blowing a strong, steady stream of 

 cold air upon bees, from a common bellows, or even 

 from the mouth, they may be driven into their hive, or from 

 their combs, while, as is well known, they will furiously 

 resent a gentle current of warm breath from the lungs. 



From some experiments which I have just made with this 

 non-swarmer, I find that the entrance may be so contracted 

 as to rub off much of the pollen from the thighs of the bees, 

 while it still permits them to crowd into the hive ! It may 

 therefore be so adjusted as to prevent, in some cases, where 

 it may be desirable, an excessive gathering of bee-bread. 

 (See p. 201.) 



If the old queens are removed, once in three years, the 

 Apiarian can keep all his colonies in possession of queens, 

 at the height of their fertility, and thus a most serious objec- 

 tion to the non-a»varming, or as it is frequently called, the 

 storifying system, may be avoided. If at any time, new 

 colonies are wanted, they may be made iik the manner al- 

 ready described. 



" Queens differ much an to the degree of their fertility. 

 Those are best, which deposit their eggs with uniform regu^ 

 larity, not leaving any cells unsupplied ; the result of which 

 is, that the brood will emerge at the same time, frona the 



