GO 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 
time may be saved to the parent stock by givin; 't a fimsneh 
queen-cell. If this be inserted two or three hours after tire 
drumming it will be less liable to be destroyed. To obtain a 
supply of queen-cells, an Italian or other strong stock in a frame 
hive may be divided ten days beforehand. 
When an Italian queen is to be introduced, enclose her in a 
wire-cloth cage and insert the cage in the centre of a comb near 
the brood where the bees will cluster upon it. In thirty -six 
hours release the queen, smear her with honey, and allow her to 
crawl down among the bees. In natural swarming, the old 
queen continues to lay eggs until she leaves with the first swarm, 
at which time queen cells are capped over and hatch in about 
eight days after. But in driving or forced swarming, if the 
stock contained no queen-cells, and none were inserted, it would 
take about fifteen days to hatch a queen, hence there would be 
a loss of several days more than in natural swarming, unless we 
insert a queen-cell, which would hatch in four or five days, 
giving us a gain of three days over natural swarming, besides, 
there being but one queen-cell, no second swarm would issue. 
We have been particular in giving the details for the driving 
process, on account of the principles it illustrates and its use in 
transferring stocks from common to improved hives. But for 
purposes of artificial swarming it is attended with much uncer- 
tainty, for we can never know, as we ought, whether the old 
stock succeeds in getting a new fertile queen or not, until it is 
often too late to remedy the evil if one be wanting. 
