BEE MANUAL, 203 
' will suddenly lead the swarm off a long distance before she 
makes up her mind to stop. When aswarm remains in the 
air longer than usual, and has no appearance of settling, some 
fine dirt, sand, or a spray of water should be thrown among the 
bees to disorganise them ; this will generally have the desired 
effect. It is said that a blank charge fired at or near the head 
of an absconding swarm will cause it to settle. 
PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 
By carefully following out certain rules based upon our 
knowledge of the nature and habits of bees we can control or 
regulate swarming to a very great extent, but there is no 
system at present known which will give us such complete 
control as would enable us to prevent swarming altogether, when 
we desire to do so. We may indeed do as some have advo- 
cated, that is, take away the queens for a time, and so stop 
breeding, but I would much prefer to put up with the inconve- 
nience of a few extra swarms rather than adopt such a doubtful 
method. 
The best aids we can have towards the prevention of swarm- 
ing are roomy and well-ventilated hives, and if need be shade. 
At the same time very much will depend on the knowledge 
and tact of the bee-keeper, that is, his knowing what to do and 
how to do it, and his doing the proper thing at the right time. 
There are times when everything depends upon the ability 
of the bee-keeper to adapt himself to circumstances, when his 
judgment for the time being is all he can trust to, and if this 
fail him, it may result in the loss of the greater part of the 
season’s crop. Such a time is when the honey season has been 
retarded by bad weather, and suddenly gives promise of a better 
state of things towards the last few weeks of it, when just 
sufficient honey has been gathered to keep up breeding. ‘The 
colonies are strong, and it only requires two or three days of 
favourable weather to start them swarming. The bee-keeper 
is aware that the season, however favourable it may turn out, 
can only last for a short time ; he knows his colonies are liable 
to have a bad attack of the “‘swarming fever,” and also that 
his chance of securing a crop of honey depends entirely upon 
his being able to keep the majority of his bees steady at work 
instead of swarming. 
