130 
BEES. 
another, but permitting the intrusion of no stranger.” On the 
subject of fC swarming” we have the following very just remarks : 
“With bees it is frequently an act of necessity only, and then it 
may commonly be prevented by timely enlargement, and decreas¬ 
ing the temperature of the hive. As soon as warm weather sets 
in, a common hive becomes filled with an augmented population. 
Every part is crowded to suffocation ; no storing room is left • 
the heat becomes insupportable ; and, at length, the emigration 
of a part of the inhabitants takes place. On the occasion of a 
first swarm the old queen accompanies it, usually leaving her 
successor to the throne still in embryo. About an equal number 
of old and young bees, and (though not without exception) se¬ 
veral hundred drones, form the swarm. It is not an unusual 
thing to hear a boast of a number of swarms, or casts (as the 
second swarms are called), from a stock of bees, which will even 
sometimes throw off a swarm the first year. Nothing is proved 
by this but the fact that an otherwise thriving colony has been 
weakened, if not destroyed, by being split up into fractions, which 
ought to have been held together, as the greatest security against 
every evil, and the surest source of profit to the proprietor. 
“ Wooden Hives, on Boxes. Whatever may be said in favour 
of straw hives, as a cheap resource for cottagers, there is no 
doubt of the preference to be given to wooden ones, both in point 
of durability and as affording greater convenience to the bees; 
for a square form is better adapted for the economical placing of 
the combs than any other. Different opinions are entertained as 
to the best size of bee-boxes ; but I think that much must depend 
on the number of bees they are to contain, and on the honey 
locality, which varies exceedingly. There must, also, be a refer¬ 
ence to the proposed manner of working them; for where no 
swarming is permitted, a larger hive may sometimes be used. A 
good size is eleven inches square, and nine inches deep within 
side; the thickness throughout being not less than an inch, or, 
if exposed, a little thicker. The entrance into a hive is generally 
cut out of its bottom edge; this has a tendency to cause decay 
in that part, particularly if of straw, besides that a hole so made 
affords but indifferent protection from driving wet or scorching 
sun, or as giving facility for the escape of moisture from the 
hive. The plan adopted by me, and many other bee-keepers, is 
much better—that of grooving out a passage in the thickness of 
