43 
drouth may be the cause of late swarms. I think the ir- 
regularity of swarming may in most cases be traced to 
the irregular deposition of saccharine matter in the 
flowers. In southern latitudes where the flowers bloom 
earlier in spring, and later in fall, making the season 
longer, bees swarm more frequently than in our northern 
latitudes, sudden drouths producing the same effects of 
checking their swarming there, as here. Thus is Divine 
Wisdom displayed through what man calls imperfections ; 
’ but what perfection is manifest when we contemplate 
nature as a whole like “justice with her scales” in hand 
she regulates wants and supplies light and shade, cold and 
heat, cause and effect, in one grand unbroken chain of 
universal harmony throughout creation. 
There may be other incidental causes why bees do not 
swarm regular each year, such as reduced numbers, from 
defective hives over swarming one season is pretty sure 
be followed the next season by not swarming at all, in 
consequence of colonies being small and illy prepared to 
lay up sufficient stores, barely living through the winter. 
A colony in this condition in the spring, with stinted 
stores, and also numbers, will seldom do much more than 
come up to a decent colony by swarming time, much 
less to throw off a swarm ; leaving bees out on bee 
stands all winter exposed to the rigor of a northern 
cimatc, thereby reducing their numbers by chill, and ex- 
posure, is another cause. Colonies sometimes have 
queens that by reason of age or being virgin queens 
are not fertile, such stock cannot throw off swarms and 
usually dwindle away ; safety lies in understanding and 
providing against these evils, and this is best done by the 
use of a moveable comb hive. 
