ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 
79 
going the entire warm season. Alfalfa, 
sainfoin, sweet clover, buckwheat, rape, 
alsike clover, crimson and red clover, cow- 
peas of the South, and some others, are 
the only cultivated plants that unques¬ 
tionably have given paying crops of honey. 
See Honey Plants. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING.— Artificial 
swarming is the act of creating conditions 
within the hive comparable to that of a 
recently hived natural swarm. It is a 
great convenience for those who may be 
away from the apiary at swarming time. 
Business and professional men, by a little 
attention to their bees once a week during 
the swarming season, can by this means 
anticipate swarming, thus forcing the 
swarm at the convenience of the beekeeper 
instead of permitting the colonies to 
swarm when they get ready, usually at the 
most inconvenient time. Extensive honey 
producers who operate several apiaries can 
control swarming by visiting each apiary 
about once a week and making artificial 
swarms when colonies are found that are 
preparing to swarm. Before the reader 
takes up this subject he should read care¬ 
fully the article on Swarming in order 
that he may understand the conditions 
that bring about swarming in a natural 
way. He will then be in better position to 
understand the principles involved in ar¬ 
tificial swarming. 
Usually it is not considered to be a good 
plan to make artificial swarms from colo¬ 
nies that are not making preparations to 
swarm naturally, for colonies which are 
willing to work well thruout the season 
without swarming should not be disturbed 
by swarming them artificially. As a rule, 
the bees do not swarm naturally until the 
first of the queen-cells built preparatory 
to swarming are capped, or about ready 
to be capped. By examining the brood- 
combs of each colony once a week to see 
if queen-cells have been started, it is pos¬ 
sible to detect which colonies may be ex¬ 
pected to swarm within the next seven or 
eight days and these may be swarmed ar¬ 
tificially. 
Italian bees sometimes swarm before the 
queen-cells are capped, and in extreme 
cases they may swarm almost immediately 
after starting queen-cells, but this does not 
often happen. For this reason it is well 
if much swarming is expected, as in pro¬ 
ducing comb honey, to clip the queen’s 
wings, even when artificial swarming is 
practiced, to prevent the loss of swarms 
that may issue before the next weekly visit 
to the apiary. Bees do not often postpone 
swarming for long after the first queen- 
cells are capped, unless they are prevented 
from swarming by adverse weather. 
Initial swarming cells shown at the right. It is 
these that give the apiarist warning of the colony’s 
intention to swarin. 
When making these examinations, if 
queen-cells are found which contain only 
eggs or very small larvae, these cells may be 
destroyed and the colony left another week. 
Sometimes they will give up swarming 
when this is done, but often they build 
more queen-cells immediately and will be 
ready for treatment at the time of the 
next visit a week later. When destroying 
queen-cells in this way it is necessary to 
shake most of the bees from the combs to 
be sure that none of them are overlooked; 
for, if one is left,, a swarm may issue be¬ 
fore the next visit. 
When queen-cells are found that con¬ 
tain large larvae there is no use destroying 
these, expecting the colony to give up 
swarming, for destroying such queen-cells 
usually does not prevent swarming. When 
well-advanced queen-cells are found the 
colony may be treated at once if there is 
a honey flow at the time. If the bees pre¬ 
pare to swarm before the beginning of the 
main honey flow, they can usually be in¬ 
duced to give it up by destroying the 
queen-cells and giving a second story of 
empty combs, especially if some of the 
combs of brood are raised up into the sec¬ 
ond story. 
The operation in artificial swarming, in 
brief, is as follows: The old hive is 
moved to one side of its stand and an 
empty one, just like it, is put in its place. 
In this hive are placed frames having foun¬ 
dation starters or full sheets of founda¬ 
tion, preferably the latter. If neither of 
