THOUSAND ANSWLRS 
249 
Q. “If a swarm in July 
Is not worth a fly, 
Can anybody remember 
What they are worth in September?" > 
A. “A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; 
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; 
A swarm in July is not worth a fly.” 
That jingle must have been made for some locality with which 
I have no acquaintance. Taking it, however, at its face value, if 
it teaches anything it teaches that the worth of a swarm as the 
season advances is a constantly diminishing quantity. In July it 
gets down to the zero point, after that it becomes a negative 
quantity, by September becoming a great deal less than nothing. 
And that might be literally true at the time the doggerel was 
composed, when all that was done with a swarm was to dump it 
into an empty box or skep and leave it to its own devices. For 
the swarm would be worthless, and the mother colony would be 
damaged by the exodus. It is possible that in the present instance 
there was an exception, and that the flow was so heavy and con- 
tinued so late that, left to themselves, the swarm might have 
built combs and stored enough for winter. In localities where 
there is a dearth in July and a second crop in August and Septem- 
ber, a September swarm will be better than a July swarm, as it 
may fill its hive from the fall blossoms, while the July swarm 
would starve before the second crop opened. 
Swarms, Where From. — Q. If a swarm comes forth, and you 
don’t see what hive it comes from, is there any way to tell what 
hive it comes from? 
A. Take a bunch of bees away from the swarm, dredge them 
with flour, and watch to which hive they fly back. Of course, you 
may also be able to make a good guess by looking into the hives 
and finding one which has a scarcity of bees. If you investigate 
the matter promptly you may find in front of the mother hive a 
number of very young bees, unable to fly, who have been dragged 
out by the rest of their comrades and are trying to get back. 
Sweating of Bees. — Q. Do bees sweat if covered too warm? 
A. They are more likely to sweat when too cold, if you may 
call it sweat. Moisture is coming from the bees all the time, and 
if the walls of the hive are cold, the condensed moisture settles 
upon them, and may run down and out of the entrance, and this 
is sometimes called sweating. The worst of it is when the mois- 
