gust. It seldom happens before ten in the morning, nor later than three in the afternoon, and never but in fine weather. If it be sultry, bees are apt to rise after a storm, being anxious to escape from the heat of the hive, rendered more intolerable by the confinement which the storm has occasioned. In the sixth volume of the Philosophical Transactions, an instance is recorded by RICHARD REED, Esq. of Lugwardine, of a swarm issuing on the 9th of March; as he supposed, in consequence of there being an insufficient supply of food for the whole family, a part were sent forth to seek their fortunes, lest the whole should perish. The day, he says, was fine, but does not mention the temperature. Probably this was a stock which had bred in the month of February, the swarm issuing from the usual cause, a disproportion between the size of the family and the size of the habitation.

If early swarming be desired, early breeding must be promoted, by feeding with sugared or honeyed ale in February and March, and by keeping the stock warm. And if the apiarian at any time wish to obtain a swarm, he has only to withhold from his bees that accommodation which storifying affords them.

The most advantageous time for a swarm to be thrown off is from the middle of May to the middle of June. This period comprehends the grand

harvest season of the honeyed race. After the scythe has cut down the flowers which adorn our meadows and yield the bees such a plentiful supply of honey and farina, there is a very manifest relaxation in their activity; their excursions are not only much less extensive, but less frequent, although the weather be in all respects propitious. Swarms that issue much earlier than the time I have specified, are apt to be small; and should bad weather succeed, feeding will be necessary, to prevent famine. Those that issue later, afford no better promise, either to themselves or to the parent hives; for though late swarms are usually large ones, they will scarcely have time to rear their brood, and to lay in a store of honey, &c. adequate to the support of the family during the ensuing winter and spring. Late swarming is not only hazardous to the bees thrown off, but is injurious to the parent stock, which suffers in proportion to the loss of labourers, that should contribute to the general store of food, and assist in rearing the brood, which is generally abundant, though the season be far advanced.

Hence it is the usual practice, early in the autumn, to suffocate both the swarm and the stock, in order to secure whatever wax and honey may have been collected up to that time. There is however another alternative, as will be seen under the head of Uniting Swarms or Stocks.

If several days of rainy weather should succeed a swarm's going off, the stores they carry with

them from the parent hive may be exhausted and endanger a famine; in such a case recourse must be had to feeding.

G

CHAPTER XIV.

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF STORIFYING AND SINGLE-HIVING.

FROM what has been said in the two last chapters, a comparative estimate may be made of the advantages which storifying possesses over singlehiving; and they appear to be the following.

First, an œconomical division of labour, an advantage common to all bodies of artificers, whose works are conducted upon a large scale, and which causes a larger quantity of wax and honey to be collected in the season, than if the bees were to swarm, and to carry on their operations in separate families.

Secondly, the facility with which the bees may be deprived of a considerable portion of their honey, without destroying their lives, or communicating to the honey any unpleasant flavour, from the sulphurous gas.

Thirdly, the power which is afforded to the bees, of employing themselves usefully during wet weather, in the manner before stated.

Fourthly, the saving of that time which is unnecessarily spent in the construction of fresh combs, in the new habitation.

Fifthly, the saving of room; for as every family

has more warehouse-room than its respective necessities require, the division into small families must multiply the proportion of this superfluous

room.

Sixthly, the saving of the time usually lost in preparation for swarming, when the bees hang inactively in clusters, on the outsides of the hives, for many days, sometimes for weeks, particularly if the weather be unfavourable.

It seems right to remark in this place, that though this clustering or hanging out of the bees is generally regarded as one of the strongest symptoms of an approaching swarm, it is nevertheless a deceptive one. It does certainly indicate that there are bees sufficient to throw off a swarm, and is sometimes evidence of an anxiety to do so; but unless there be a queen ready to go off with them, however distrest for room, the clustering will sometimes continue for a considerable time; in hot dry seasons it may last till the middle of August. This clustering, as before observed, is very prejudicial, as it causes the bees to be inactive in their principal harvest season, when every bee ought to be fully employed, and may induce a habit of inactivity for the future. Clustering likewise obstructs the operations of the bees that are active, by interrupting the thoroughfare to the hive. These disadvantages are admirably remedied by storifying, without which,