ARTIFICIAL bWAUMINO. 
147 
the demand for them; hut would be entirely iicpenaeni 
upon the caprices of his bees, or rather upon the natural 
laws which control their swarming. 
Every practical bee-keeper is aware of the uncertainly 
of natural swarming. Under no circumstances, can it bo 
confidently relied on. While some stocks swarm regularly, 
and repeatedly, others, equally strong in numbers, and 
rich in stores, refuse to swarm, even in seasons in all 
respects highly propitious. Such colonies, on exainin.ation, 
will often be found to have taken no steps for raising 
young queens. In some cases, the wings of the old 
mother are defective, while in others, she seems to prefer 
the riches of the old hive, to the risks attending the for¬ 
mation of a new colony. It frequently happens that, ■« hen 
all the preparations have been made for swarming, tho 
weather proves so iinpropitious that the J'oung queens 
appi'oach maturity before the old ones can leave, and are 
all destroyed. Under su^'h circumstances, swarming, for 
that season, is almost certain to be prevented. The young 
queens are also sometimes destroyed, because of some 
sudden, and perhajis only^ temporal')', suspension of the 
honey-harvest; for bees seldom colonize, even if all their 
preparations are completed, unless the blossoms are yield¬ 
ing an abundant siqiply of honey. From these and other 
causes, which my limits will not permit me to notice, it 
has hitherto been found impossible, in the uncertain clim¬ 
ate of our Northern States, for any but the most expe¬ 
rienced and energetic Aidarians. to multiply colonies very 
rajiidly by natural swarming. 
The numerous per]ilexities pertaining to n.atural swarin- 
ing, have, for ages, directed tho attention of cultiv.ators to 
the importance of devising some more reliable method 
for increasing their colonies.* 
* Dr. 8uu(lftin«n« quotos ('olnmella, who, nbtmt tUo nildtllo of the fir.'tt cen¬ 
tury ol I.huCbrlsUau Krji, wrote twelve books on husbandry —re a* 
