20 : 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jnly 7,1687. 
ready for supering, therefore every swarm should have 
issued not later than the 15th of May. A swarm hived 
on the 15th and assisted with a little syrup will be ready 
to work in supers on the 6th or 7th of June at the latest 
if the weather has been at all favourable and the swarm 
strong; while the old stock will, after sending out a cast, 
and this cast having been returned, be ready also to work 
in supers about ten days after the issue of the swarm, 
thus having a week or more to prepare for the great glut 
which we annually expect and often receive. As a matter 
of fact very few stocks are ready to yield a swarm on the 
15th day of May. If a stock is ready to work in supers 
on the 1st May it will not swarm, generally speaking, before 
the 20th of that month, and such a swarm will miss the 
earliest days of the Clover honey flow. Here is the crux—• 
The honey glut is so short, and the weather so precarious, 
that it is absolutely necessary to be prepared to take 
advantage of every fine day. What, then, are the condi¬ 
tions which make the swarming system sometimes more 
profitable than the non-swarming system ? They are 
three:— 
1. Where there is little honey in May. 
2. When there is a Heather harvest expected. 
o. When swarms can be obtained before the 15th May. 
Again, in any case and under all circumstances the 
swarming system is most profitable when there is 
1. A supply of frames filled with comb. 
2. A supply of supers filled with new white comb. 
The Heather harvest has not been considered at length’ 
because it will really not necessitate any great change in 
our arrangements, except under conditions which shall be 
fully explained at some future time. Now, it will be 
self-evident that if the honey glut begins later than the 
7th of June the swarm may be allowed to issue later in 
proportion; if the glut commences earlier the swarm must 
also issue earlier too. It need hardly be added that in 
those districts where the harvest is principally from fruit 
bloom, &c., in May, and no Clover honey is expected, no 
increase must be allowed—at any rate, until after the 
honey season is at an end; when, if a Heather harvest is 
expected, the time between the two flows may be utilised 
in increasing the number of stocks. 
For the success of the swarming system a careful 
autumn preparation is absolutely necessary, and any 
neglect in the preceding year will be the forerunner of 
failure in the succeeding spring. It may also be said 
that it is more natural to allow a stock to swarm, but 
great stress need not be laid upon this point, although it 
is not wise—unless there is a benefit to be gained—to 
thwart Nature gratuitously. More than one swarm 
should never be taken from any stock that is afterwards 
expected to yield a honey harvest; but every cast should 
be returned on the evening of the day of issue. 
Three special advantages result from allowing swarms 
to issue. These are 
1. The camber of stocks is doubled at least. 
2 Young queens are raised under the swarming impulse. 
3. If permanent increase in the number of stocks is not desired, 
any stock can be strengthened by the addition of the bees 
of its swarm in autumn. 
To some the first point would be a consideration; to 
others, however, who do not require such a permanent 
increase, and who are unable to sell their surplus stocks, 
it would offer no temptation of itself: but, as pointed out, 
the bees of these swarms can be utilised in autumn for 
strengthening the permanent stocks, and are thus a great 
advantage/ and save the cost otherwise often incurred by 
purchasing driven bees for the pui’pose. Young queens 
raised under the swarming impulse are very valuable, and 
this point is of considerable weight; unless the practice of 
giving young fertile queens, and thereby “lifting” the 
stocks, is adopted, when this advantage will be to some 
extent lost. 
When, then, there is only a little flow of honey in May, or 
when there is a good flow of honey in May, if super bodies- 
of frames filled with comb or supers filled with virgin comb 
can be obtained the swarming system should be adopted. 
In the former case it will give better results than the 
opposing system, because if neither has a supply of empty 
comb the stock and the swarm will do more work than 
the stock alone: in the latter case because, if sufficient 
empty comb can be obtained without keeping the bees 
busy working it in May, a stock and swarm will fill and 
seal more combs than a stock from which no swarm has 
been allowed to issue. When there is a good flow of 
honey in May, and there are no empty combs at hand, 
then it will be more profitable and more practical to prevent 
increase and to compel the stock to work out tier upon 
tier of comb ready to hold the surplus, which may confi¬ 
dently be expected about the 7th of June. These are my 
conclusions. I have endeavoured to state my reasons for 
arriving at such conclusions as concisely and clearly as 
possible. The subject is, however, intricate and difficult, 
but those who are aware of the many considerations to be 
kept in view in such a discussion of two opposing systems 
will be able to understand how hard it is to explain 
everything clearly, so that all may grasp the chief points 
to be considered without being biassed in favour of or 
against either system by the personal predilections of the 
writer. No hard-and-fast rule can possibly be laid down 
as to the merits of the one system or the other; each one 
must endeavour to understand the salient points in both, 
take into consideration his peculiar circumstances, and 
then decide which system will most probably give the best 
results in his individual case.— Feltx. 
0 o c All correspondence should be directed either to “ Tub 
Editor” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. 
Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so Subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same "sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions ^at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written oil one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
LATE INQUIRIES.—It is necessary to again remind correspondents that 
letters arriving on WEDNESDAY MORNING cannot be answered 
in the “ next issue,” which is then far advanced for. press. 
Cinerarias {A. B .).—The leaf sent is tunnelled with a small maggot —a 
leaf miner. It is 'simi'ar in its action to the Celery fly, and batches from 
eggs deposited in the l aves by a small fly. When the maggots take 
possession of the leaves we know of no remedy for their.extirpation without 
injuring the plants. If any of our readers can send us the particulars of 
any method-that lias proved effectual in banishing'the pest We will readily 
publish them. 
Gloxinia Leaves Disfigured (F. •/.).—The leaves are spotted and dis¬ 
coloured on the margin, evidently scorched by the suri acting powerfully 
