A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
65 
SWARMING. 
If I were to meet a man perfect in the entire science and 
art of bee-keeping, and were allowed from him an answer to 
just one question, I would hesitate somewhat whether to ask 
him about swarming or wintering. I think, however, I 
would finally ask for the best and easiest way to prevent 
swarming, for one who is anxious to secure the largest crop 
of comb honey. There are localities where a large crop of 
honey is secured in the fall, and in such place, or in any place 
where the honey-flow is long enough, a larger crop may be 
secured by increase, but I am not so sure about that. If a 
man in such a place starts in the spring with 75 colonies, he 
may get a larger crop by increasing early enough to 150, 
supposing 150 colonies to be tire largest number his field will 
bear ; but would he not have a still larger crop if he had the 
150 all through the season and made no increase ? However 
that may be, in my locality, which is notone of the very good 
ones, and where it happens that somewhere from the first 
week in July to the same time in August, the harvest ceases, 
after which the bees hardly get enough to keep themselves— 
in such a place I am satisfied that more honey can be 
harvested by commencing in the spring with the largest 
number the field will bear, and holding at that number, 
always providing that the means taken to keep down increase 
shall in no wise interfere with the best work on the part of 
the bees. 
If I were working for extracted honey, I suppose the 
matter might be managed, to a great extent, if not to the 
fullest extent, by simply giving abundance of room in every 
direction ; but with comb honey, I do not believe that an 
abundance of room in the brood-nest is compatible with the 
largest yield of surplus. I thought at one time that if a 
queen had four frames in the brood-chamber the addition of 
four more frames could make no possible difference, provid- 
ing the added four were filled with honey when given. I 
