THE HOMEY-BEE. 
200 
when natural swarms might he looked for. At that 
time it is likely royal brood will be found in the 
combs, or at nil events, abundance of eggs and larvae 
of workers, from which to rear an artificial queen, — 
and the males are also at this time numerous ; — a 
state of things indispensable to the success of artifi- 
cial swarming. The mode of operation' is various, 
and has been described by almost every writer on 
the subject of Bees. With common hives the pro- 
cess is somewhat difficult, and not always successful. 
The following experiments, however, will shew that 
it is not impracticable. From the first to the third 
week of June, our hives had all thrown their top or 
prime swarms. But instead of sending off their 
seconds, or casts, ten or twelve days thereafter, as 
is generally the case, four of them had not swarmed 
nearly three weeks beyond that period. This was 
in all likelihood owing to an unfavourable change 
of weather, which, by delaying the swarming, had 
furnished the reigning queen with an opportunity 
of putting to death her intended successors. In this 
state of things, from the crowded condition of the 
hives, a mass of bees as large as a man’s head, hung 
from the alighting-board of each, a grievous sight to 
the apiarian, as these outliers are quite idle. We 
resolved, therefore, to try artificial swarming with one 
of these hives, and to regulate our proceedings with 
regard to the others according to the issue of this. 
Availing ourselves of the discoveries of Scliirach and 
Huber, we cut out of an other hive a piece of comb of 
about 2^ inches square, containing eggs and larvte of 
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