SWARMING. 
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cells finished, &c. A stock may cast swarms in June, 
and a buckwheat swarm in August, on the same prin- 
ciple. 
WHEN IT IS USELESS TO EXPECT MORE SWARMS. 
Therefore, bee-keepers having but few stocks, will 
find it unnecessary to watch their bees when the last 
of the first swarms came out sixteen or eighteen days 
before. Much trouble may be thus saved by under- 
standing this matter. During my early days in bee- 
keeping, I wished for the greatest possible increase of 
stocks. I had some that had cast the first swarm, and 
soon after clustered out again. I vainly watched them 
for weeks and months, expecting another swarm. But 
had I understood the modus operandi , as the reader 
may now understand it, I should have been through 
with all my anxiety, as well as watching, in a fort- 
night. As it was, it lasted two months. I found no 
one to give me any light on this subject, or even tell 
me when the swarming season was over, and I came 
very near watching all summer ! 
PLURALITY OF QUEENS DESTROYED. 
When the bees, queens, or all together, decide that 
no more swarms are to issue, the plurality of queens 
is destroyed, and but one is left. It is probable that 
the oldest and strongest queen dispatches the others, 
generally while in the cells. 
I once had some artificial queens reared, as an ex- 
periment, from common eggs, on the top of a hive, in 
