238 
SUMMER. 
this rule, two second swarms would contain as many 
bees as a first one, and four of the third, or one of the 
second issue, and two of the third, &c. If the first 
and second are of the ordinary size, I think it advis- 
able always to return the third. But in large apiaries 
it is common for them to issue without any previous 
warning, just when a first one is leaving, and crowd 
themselves into their company, and seeming to he as 
much at home as though they were equally respect- 
able. 
Whenever the hives containing our swarms are full 
or very near it, the boxes should be put on without 
delay, unless the season of honey is so nearly gone as 
to make it unnecessary. 
I have found it an advantage to hive a few of these 
very small swarms, on purpose to preserve queens, to 
supply some old stocks that sometimes lose their own 
at the extreme end of the swarming season. The 
cases to be mentioned at the last of the next chapter. 
I try and save one for about every twenty stocks that 
have swarmed. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
LOSS OF QUEENS. 
OF SWARMS THAT LOSE THEIR QUEEN. 
Swarms that lose their queen the first few hours 
after being hived, generally return to the parent stock ; 
with the exception that they sometimes unite with 
