BEE MANUAL. 193 
commence as early as August. In Tasmania the season is 
similar to that in the southern portion of the Province of 
Auckland—from mid-October to mid-January. 
SYMPTOMS OF SWARMING. 
It is generally known amongst experienced bee-keepers, that 
first swarms give but little outward indications by which the 
apiarist may know when they are likely to issue. True, the 
bees may hang clustered outside the hive, which is thought by 
some people to be a sure sign ; but although this may be caused 
in some instances by an over-crowded hive, it more often occurs 
through bad ventilation and want of shade, and can by no 
means be taken as an indication of the immediate issue of a 
swarm. I have known cases where the bees have been hanging 
outside the hive in large numbers for weeks prior to swarming, 
keeping the household constantly on the alert lest they should 
lose them. 
This waste of time on the part of the bees during perhaps 
the best part of the season should not be allowed, and could 
not occur with movable comb-hives and proper management. 
Mr. Langstroth says, ‘There are no signs from which the 
apiarian can predict the certain issue of a first swarm. For 
years I spent much time in the vain attempt to discover some 
infallible indications of first swarming, until facts convinced me 
that there can be no such indications.” One of the surest signs 
in the interior of the hive is the presence of newly built queen 
cells, and this can be easily ascertained at all times by the use 
of movable comb-hives. 
ISSUE OF THE SWARM. 
The actual process of swarming is so admirably described by 
Langstroth, whose closeness of observation and clearness of 
description are equally inimitable, that I cannot withhold from 
the reader a passage from tke chapter upon natural swarming 
in his treatise upon “‘ The Hive and Honey Bee.” He says, at 
p. 112 :— 
“‘T have repeatedly witnessed, in my observing hives, the whole 
process of swarming. On the day fixed for their departure the queen 
is very restless, and instead of depositing her eggs in the cells, roams 
over the combs and communicates her agitation to the whole colony. 
O 
