514 bee-keeper's calendak. 



If the surplus cases (724=) have been put on before 

 the honey crop, there will be a less number of swarms, espe- 

 cially if the boxes have been furnished with combs, as baits, 

 and the entrance enlarged to help ventilation (344). 



If the Apiary is not carefully watched, the bee-keeper, 

 after a short absence, should examine the neighboring bushes 

 and trees, on some of which he will often find a swarm 

 clustered, preparatory to their departure for a new home 

 (419). 



" As it may often be important to know from which hive the 

 swarm has issued, after It has been hived and removed to its new 

 stand, let a cup-full of bees be taken from it and thrown into the 

 air, near the Apiary, after having sprinkled them with flour; 

 they will soon return to the parent colony, and may easily be 

 recognized, by standing at the entrance, fanning, like ventilat- 

 ing bees. — DziERzox. 



This is the quickest method to discover the home of a 

 swarm. 



As fast as the surplus honey receptacles are filled, more 

 room should be given (763). Careless bee-keepers often 

 lose much, by neglecting to do this in season, thereby con- 

 demning their colonies to a very unwilling idleness. The 

 Apiarist will bear in mind, that all after swarms which come 

 off late in this month, should be either aided, doubled or 

 returned to the mother-colony. With movable-frame hives, 

 the issue of such swarms may be prevented, by removing, 

 in season, the supernumerary queen-cells. During all the 

 swarming season, and, indeed, at all other times when 

 young queens are being bred, the bee-keeper must ascer- 

 tain seasonably, that the hives which contain them, succeed 

 in securing a fertile mother (162). 



886. July. — In some seasons and districts, this is the 

 great swarming month ; while in others, bees issuing so 

 late, are of small account. In Northern Massachusetts, 

 we have known swarms coming after the Fourth of July, to 



