THE HONEY-BEE. 
203 
seconds. There is hut one way of preventing second 
swarms, and that is, by giving them more room, and 
destroying nil the remaining royal cells, as soon as it 
is ascertained that a young Queen has been hatched, 
to preside over the community. A first swarm de- 
parts only on a fine day, when the sky is clear, and 
the sun shines ; a second, or cast, is not so scrupu- 
lous. Should tho weather become wet immediately 
after the emigrants have been housed, they must be 
fed. 
Virgin Swarms . — When the swarming season has 
been early and favourable, a strong first swarm sends 
forth sometimes a young colony headed by the old 
Queen. For the first few days after she had taken 
possession of her new abode, she has laid the eggs of 
workers in great numbers. Portions of comb con- 
taining large cells are at the same time constructed, 
in which she lays the eggs of males. The workers 
are thereby encouraged to build royal cells ; and, if 
the weather be favourable, at the end of a month 
from the time of her leaving her original abode, the 
old Queen leads olf a new band of emigrants. The 
product of this swarm, if suffered to exist separately, 
is called virgin honey. What has been said of the 
value of second, third, and fourth swarms, is equally 
applicable to swarms of this description. Unless in 
very particular circumstances, they are not only not 
advantageous, but positively injurious to the general 
prosperity of the apiary, and should therefore be 
prevented. 
A timid and inexperienced cultivator of bees may 
