276 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
as few colonies as you can,” which tersely gives the 
very kernel of all that can be said respecting success, 
if honey-production be our goal. The prevention of 
swarming has been, and still is, the bee-keeper’s 
ideal, and therefore, again and again, so-called swarm- 
preventing hives have been declared, by their makers, 
to deserve the title conferred upon them ; but if their 
virtues in this respect depend, as is usual, upon their 
great size, they are, on that very account, valueless 
to the practical apiarian, as we shall presently see. 
Hives, it cannot be denied, may, by their structure, 
hinder or aid the bee-keeper, but none can by them- 
selves secure the wished-for result : they are but 
instruments, and if swarming is ever to be successfully 
controlled, it must be by the exercise of wisely- 
directed management. The whole of the conditions 
which affect in any way the bees in relation to this 
matter need to be considered, and amongst them 
the influence of the queen upon her colony must not 
be overlooked. Casts, as already stated, carry with 
them a young queen, and, as a result, very rarely 
build any drone-comb the first year. With this must 
be associated a second fact — that casts in our climate 
practically never swarm within the same period. On 
the contrary, first swarms, having at their head the 
old queen of the stock whence they came, commonly 
build, if unprovided with foundation, considerable 
patches of the larger cells, while their swarming 
during the season of their issue (technically, maiden 
swarming), although not quite common, is by no means 
rare. Making due allowance for the fact that casts 
are later than first swarms, it is still clear that 
