ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
145 
several swarms rise at once, and cluster together; and not 
unfrequently, in the noise and confusion, other swarms fly 
off, and are lost. I have seen the bee-master, under such 
circumstances, so perplexed and exhausted as to be almost 
ready to wish he had never seen a bee. 
3. The multiplying of bees by natural swarming, must, 
in our country, almost entirely prevent the establishment 
of large Apiaries. 
The swarming season is, with most bee-keepers, the 
busiest part of the year, and if they keep a large number 
of swarming-hives, they must devote nearly all their time, 
for a number of weeks, to their supervision; and at a 
season when labor commands the highest price, they may 
also be obliged to hire additional assistance. 
To keep a few colonies in swarming-hives, often costs 
more than they are worth, while the supervision of a large 
number can be made profitable, only by those who can de¬ 
vote nearly all the Summer months to their bees. The 
number of such persons, in this country, must be very 
small; and hence there are few who have succeeded in 
making bee-keeping anything more than a subordinate 
pursuit. 
4. A serious objection to natural swarming, is the dis¬ 
couraging fact that bees often refuse to swarm at all; thus 
the Apiarian finds it impossible to multiply his colonies 
with any certainty or rapidity, even although he may be 
favorably situated for conducting bee-culture on an exten¬ 
sive scale. 
Many of the most careful bee-keepers have fewer stocks 
than they had years ago, although they have sought to 
increase them to the extent of their power. Few in¬ 
telligent Apiarians believe that there are half as many 
colonies in our Northern and Middle States, as there were 
twenty years ago ; and most of them would abandon bee- 
7 
