96 TREATISE ON THE 
will be reduced below as many hundreds ; 
and yet by the beginning or middle of June, 
the numbers, provided the queen be an ordi- 
narily fertile one, and the season not unfa- 
vorable, will be augmented to more than the 
original amount, exclusive of an immense 
quantity of brood in progress in the combs. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that about 
midsummer, or even before it, there seems a 
want of room in the hive, and a determina- 
tion on the part of the Bees to desert their 
crowded habitation, and to seek for a new 
one elsewhere. 
A crowded population may not be the sole 
cause of this periodical emigration of the 
Bees, but it seems to be the usual course of 
nature that it should be the principal cause, 
and that others which may be alleged are 
but subservient to it. No royal brood is 
reared, unless the population fill the hive 
almost to overflowing. This takes place 
sooner or later, according to the size of the 
domicil, and hence we find that, generally 
speaking, small hives swarm sooner than 
