112 
TIIE HIVE AND HONET-BEE. 
If the weather is unpleasant, or the blossoms yield an in- 
sufficient supply of honey, bees often change their minds, 
and refuse to swarm at all, even although their prepara- 
tions have been so fully completed, that, like the traveler 
whose trunks are packed, they have filled their honey-sacs 
for their intended journey. 
If, in the swarming season, but few bees leave a strong 
hive, on a clear, calm, and warm day, when other colonies 
are busily at work, we may look with great confidence for 
a swarm, unless the weather prove suddenly unfavorable. 
As the old queens which accompany the first swarm are 
heavy with eggs, they fly with such difficulty, that they 
are shy of venturing out, except on fair, still days. If the 
weather is very sultry, a swarm will sometimes issue as 
early as seven o’clock in the morning ; but from ten, A.M., 
to two, P. M., is the usual time ; and the majority of 
swarms come off when the sun is within an hour of the 
meridian. Occasionally, a swarm ventures out as late as 
five, P. M. ; but an old queen is seldom guilty of such an 
indiscretion. 
I have repeatedly witnessed, in my observing-hives, the 
whole process of swarming. On the day fixed for their 
departure, the queen is very restless, and instead of de- 
positing her eggs in the cells, roams over the combs, and 
communicates her agitation to the whole colony. The 
emigrating bees usually fill themselves with honey, just 
before their departure ; but in one instance, I saw them 
lay in then- supplies more than two hours before they left. 
A short time before the swarm rises, a few bees may 
generally be seen sporting in the air, with their heads 
turned always to the hive ; and they occasionally fly in 
and out, as though impatient for the important event to 
take place. At length, a violent agitation commences in 
the hive ; the bees appear almost frantic, whirling around 
