54 PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING 
by, giving ample room for the requirements of the 
colony, the deposing of old queens, and provision 
for a sufficiency of ventilation and shade during. 
hot weather. 
If a hive swarms, however good the manage- 
ment a certain amount of honey is lost, so that 
the greatest amount of surplus can only be secured 
by the checking of this propensity so far as is pos- 
sible. Much may be done to this end on the lines 
laid down, but steps must be taken in time. If 
no attention is given until the bees have de- 
cided to swarm, which is known by the fact of 
their building queen-cells, attempts at prevention, 
if not quite useless, are very nearly so. 
It is most difficult to check swarming when 
queen-cells have been once started. The swarm 
usually issues at the capping of the first queen- 
cell, and is accompanied by the old queen. The 
bees will only issue if the weather be fine and 
warm, and the time usually selected is between 
10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Should there come a period 
of adverse weather the bees may not leave ‘the 
hive, but, tearing down the queen-cells, either 
await a more favourable opportunity or abandon 
the idea for the season. 
When a swarm leaves the hive the bees fly forth 
in a thick stream, and after circling round for a 
few minutes in the air alight in a dense cluster, 
generally on a neighbouring tree or bush. As 
soon as they have become quiet they, should be 
hived at once. [If they are left alone, after a 
