192 AUSTRALASIAN 



queen cells were closed, then the first young queen will emerge 

 in eight or nine days, and in the meantime the stock will have 

 been recruited by a large number of young bees. If they still 

 feel themselves over-strong, or are still actuated by a desire for 

 swarming, the first young queens may go off with one or more 

 after-swarms or " casts •" if not, the first out will remain in 

 possession of the hive, and all the others will be destroyed in 

 their cells. In five or six days more the young queen will 

 probably be fertilised, and shortly after will begin to lay eggs. 

 This is the natural course of the swarming, which provides for 

 a multiplication of the self-sustaining stocks or colonies, and at 

 the same time for a succession of young queens. 



THE SWARMING SEASON. 



The time of year when first swarms may be expected depends 

 upon the climate, season, and strength of the colonies. In New 

 Zealand, in the northern part of the province of Auckland, they 

 sometimes Jssue as early as September ; at the Thames it is 

 usually the middle or latter part of October before the earliest 

 come off ; while further South it is later still. Swarms should 

 be expected all through the months of November and December, 

 and even up to the middle or end of January. 



As to the Australian colonies, I have taken care to obtain 

 the best information I could upon this as well as other apicul- 

 tural matters, from bee-keeping correspondents, to whom I 

 have already expressed my acknowledgments, and the general 

 result is as follows. In Queensland, with its nearly tropical 

 climate, the swarming season continues from mid-August to 

 mid-April ; the great difficulty there is to check the swarming 

 tendency and keep the stocks strong enough to collect a fair 

 return of surplus honey. Mr. Fullwood mentions cases of 

 increase in one year elevenfold. In New South Wales the 

 ordinary swarming season is given as October to December ; but 

 in some parts it begins in "September and lasts till February. 

 In South Australia, as Mr. Bonney informs me, the regular 

 swarming season is September and October, but in good seasons 

 the bees swarm again in December and January. He has 

 known stocks to increase by natural swarming in eighteen 

 months, from one to thirteen. In Victoria the season varies, 

 but in some of its northern parts swarming has been known to 



