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CHAPTER III. 
NATURAL SWARMING AND HIVING. 
CAUSE OF SWARMING. 
If the weather continues to be fair and pleasant in 
the spring, and- forage is plenty, brood is generated 
very rapidly, and about the time apple trees begin to 
bloom, usually in the beginning of June, natural 
swarms will begin to issue, yet, when the spring is un- 
usually favorable, swarms may be expected as early as 
the middle of May, and many issue about the last of 
that month. There is no certain rule to judge when it 
will take place. If you have colonies, crowded with 
bees, and there has been a constant yield of honey for 
about three weeks, and the weather is fair, you will do 
well to be on the lookout for swarms. Many times 
bees are on the point of swarming, when a few days of 
rainy or cold weather puts a bar to their intention, and 
the drones and queen-cells are destroyed, postponing 
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