280 MINEe's AMERICAN 



hives, and he will think it a pity, perhaps, that more 

 swarms are not sent out, when, if such a result were to 

 take place, it would be the ruin of his apiary, to a great 

 extent. 



There are instances, when all signs in regard to 

 swarming, may fail. Every bee-keepfer, or at least, 

 many, have watched their hives with a deep interest, 

 during the swarming season, wondering what keeps their 

 bees, as it were, spell-bound to their tenements. Large 

 clusters will hang out, night and day, and the swarming 

 season will pass away, and still there they hang, appa- 

 rently without doing any labor, save an occasional de- 

 parture to the fields to supply the wants of nature. 

 These things will often occur, and the reason why no 

 swarms issue is, that a failure has taken place in the 

 production of young queens, or when produced, they 

 have been slain from some cause, as T have already ex- 

 plained. The only alternative with such over-populous 

 families, is to form an artificial swarm, or suffer them 

 to remain as they are. When bees cluster in large in- 

 verted cones on the under side of the bottom-board, it 

 is well to place a few handfuls of grass directly under 

 them, as they often fall to the ground in the night, or 

 during the prevalence of a storm. 



SEASON OF SWARMING. 



In the latitude of New York, the usual season of 

 swarming is from the 15th of May, to the 10th of June, 

 in higher latitudes, for instance, that of Boston, it is a 

 few days later, perhaps ; and in more southern districts. 



