The facts detailed up to this point will enable the subject of swarming both natural and artificial to be understood very clearly, and we will now speak of this most important matter in its various bearings.

Firstly, it must be mentioned that swarming is the result of so great an increase in the population of a hive that work cannot efficiently be carried on, in consequence of the crowd of bees. In ordinarily good seasons the queen has produced so large a progeny by the second or third week in May, that a colony will be ready to start. The workers, being previously impelled by the growing numbers of the hive, will have prepared some royal cells. As the time for the emerging of the princesses approaches, the old queen, in her rage at the thought of coming rivals, attempts to destroy her future compeers. In this, however, she is thwarted by her otherwise obsequious attendants. In her wrath, she utters a succession of shrill, angry notes, having the sound of "peep, peep." To this one or more of the unhatched queens will reply in similar tones; and these constitute what is known to bee-keepers as "piping." It is especially noticeable previous to the issue of swarms after the first, and may be heard, particularly in the morning and evening, on placing the ear to the side or back of a hive about to send off another colony, and especially about the eighth day after the first issue.

Another indication of the approach of swarming is the clustering of bees in idleness near and outside the entrance of the hive. This is specially observable if, through unfavourable weather, an enforced delay occurs in the departure of the colony.

When the old queen has become sensible that she must depart with a portion of her subjects, she usually chooses a fine morning for her exodus; and, under ordinary circumstances, takes her flight between the hours of ten and one in the day. Occasionally, however, from some cause, she will delay her start, and the writer has had one instance in his own experience in which the swarm came out at the unusually late hour of a few minutes after five in the afternoon.

All the bees who are about to accompany their sovereign, take the precaution of securing a supply of food sufficient to last them several days; for they instinctively know they will be so occupied in wax-making and the internal preparations of their new home, that there will be no opportunity for them to get supplies out of doors, while, of course, they expect to tenant an empty dwelling. When all is ready, and their honey-bags are distended to the full, they rush to the entrance, from which they excitedly pour by hundreds and thousands. Among them is their proper sovereign; for, as we have already hinted, it is always, except in the rarest cases, that the old queen heads, or rather accompanies, the swarm. Dzierzon records one case in which the old queen refused to quit the hive, and three strong swarms were led forth, within a few days of each other, by her royal daughters.

And now, when the main body of the emigrants has issued from their quarters, the whole air seems alive with the excited, flitting, buzzing insects. The noise of their humming can be heard for many yards away, and a novice may well wonder what is to be the end of the commotion. Ordinarily, however, within a few minutes, after their exodus, it will be observed that a gathering of a thicker crowd is taking place at some particular spot most frequently on some low tree or bush. There her majesty has settled, and at once her loyal subjects assemble around her, and form a living cluster. Quickly, from all sides, they continue to gather, and in a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes a dense mass will be hanging one to the other, till it seems wonderful the queen and those in the interior of the living ball are not suffocated.

In country places it is still the custom to beat warming-pans, tin kettles, frying-pans, or other unmusical vessels, with keys or sticks or hammers, while the bees are swarming, under the idea that the noise makes them settle the more quickly. That any effect is produced on the insects is not any longer believed by apiarians; and there is good reason for thinking that the origin of the practice was altogether different from its supposed use. The probability is, that it indicated at first nothing more than that some one wished to proclaim to the neighbours the fact of his bees having swarmed, so that he might lay claim to them wherever they might settle.

It sometimes happens that the inclination to cease flying is delayed beyond the usual time. It is said by Langstroth that the throwing of a few handfuls of dust into the air, or the flashing of sunlight by a mirror among the bees, will have the effect of bringing them down. Vergil, nineteen centuries ago, pointed out that, in what he called their battles, but which were probably only the confusions of swarming, the flinging of dust or earth among them would have a quieting effect.

Sometimes, unfortunately, a strong and wayward queen will lead off her colony far beyond the precincts of the apiary in which she has been living. The writer has, during the past season (1883), had to regret the vagaries of such a queen, who, the previous year, came into his possession through her abandoning her former master, without giving any clue as to her ownership; and this year, after twice settling, and being once hived, within some two hundred yards of the apiary, took wing again, and was entirely lost, though followed more than half a mile. Few things are more vexing to the bee-keeper than such mishaps; and it becomes necessary to take all precautions which are possible against them. When, therefore, a swarm has once decidedly gathered into a cluster, it should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun; for the excitement, the close massing, combined with the natural warmth of the surrounding air, will raise greatly the temperature of the mass; and, to escape suffocation, a second flight is sometimes undertaken. A wet sheet, an umbrella, a sack supported on stout sticks, and many another simple expedient will answer the purpose of promoting a requisite coolness.

Next, immediate preparations should be made for hiving. As a rule, bees, when swarming, are very good-tempered, because they are gorged; and, like Englishmen, improve in disposition under the influence of good food. Some curious stories, indeed, have been told of the perfect inoffensiveness of these insects when thus forming a colony. We will give two of these, narrated by Bevan.

A gentleman wishing to hive a swarm that had settled on the branch of an apple-tree, gave the hive in which he was going to place them into the hands of a maid-servant She, being a novice, and somewhat timid, covered her head and shoulders with a cloth, to protect her face. On shaking the tree, most of the bees fell upon the cloth, and quickly crept under it, covering the girl's chest and neck up to her very chin. Her master instantly impressed her with the necessity of being perfectly quiet, and refraining from all buffeting, while he began to search for the queen. Having found her majesty, he gently removed her; but, to his disappointment, the swarm showed no signs of following her. Suspecting at once that there was a second queen in the cluster, he made another search, and found his supposition was correct. On securing her, and placing her with a small cluster of bees in the hive, the rest followed in crowds, till, in two or three minutes, not a single one was left on the girl, who was thus relieved from her anxious, and what might have proved most dangerous position, had she excited and alarmed the insects.

The other incident is no less striking. A skilled bee-master had a little friend who was very much afraid of being stung. One day, a swarm having come off, the queen was observed to settle by herself at a short distance from the cluster. The gentleman at once called the child to him, that he might show her the queen. Becoming interested in the somewhat uncommon sight, the girl desired to observe the royal insect more closely; so the bee-master, having made her put on gloves, placed the queen in her hand. Immediately the whole of the bees in the swarm thronged around. With an admonition to the child to remain motionless and speechless, and without fear to retain her self-possession, the gentleman quietly covered her head and shoulders with a very thin handkerchief, and made her stretch out her right hand, in which the queen was. The swarm at once began to settle, and hung from the girl's hand and arm as if from the branch of a tree. Delighted at the novelty of the affair, and finding herself unstung, the child then requested to have her head uncovered. After a while, when the bees were all quiet, a hive was brought. By a vigorous shake the swarm was made to fall into their abode, and every one of the insects was got rid of without the infliction of a single wound.

Probably it would not often happen that such completely harmless results would follow such occurrences: for, it is not unfrequently the case that a few bees, perhaps having joined the swarm without having had the opportunity to fill themselves with honey, prove somewhat spiteful; and, notwithstanding the general quietness of a just-emerged colony, even experienced apiarians by no means always escape punishment when dislodging a swarm. It is, however, quite easy to secure complete protection by means of a properly made veil to guard the face and neck, and gloves to cover the hands. We strongly advise all novices, therefore, to make use of these preservatives from stings, when proceeding to get the bees into the hive intended to receive them.

Some persons advise that the skep into which the swarm is to be brushed or shaken, should be dressed with a mixture of beer and sugar, applied with a wisp of elder-branch and leaves. It is just possible that the sweetened liquid may be drunk by some of those not quite satiated with honey, and that thus an increased quieting influence is exerted upon the whole mass; but the most skilled apiarians have given up the practice, in the belief that it is useless, if not positively mischievous, by wetting the bees, rendering many of them helpless, and probably destroying numbers of them.

The facility of hiving depends altogether upon the place chosen by the cluster for settling. From the end of a bough, or from a low shrub or bush, there is no difficulty in securing the swarm. Taking a clean skep in one hand, and holding it just under the mass of insects, a sharp shake is given with the other hand to the branch, and nearly the whole of the bees will fall into the hive. Comparatively few will fly, the vastly larger proportion having clung too tightly to one another readily to disengage themselves. As soon as possible, a floor-board should be quietly and gently placed over the open end of the skep, which must now be inverted, so as to rest on the board. One side may be slightly propped, to afford the flying bees opportunity of more speedy admission to the interior than the ordinary entrance hole would give them. Another quarter of an hour or twenty minutes will suffice for all but a small number of stragglers to join their companions inside. Meantime, a shade should be again provided, till all have entered.

If it is intended to locate the colony in a bar-frame hive, this should have been also previously made ready, the frames being furnished with sheets of guide-comb. The coverings being then removed from the top, and the skep containing the bees held above the frames, by a sharp jerk downwards, and a rap or two on the top and sides of the straw hive, all the bees may be made to fall on the bars of the frames. They will speedily crawl down on to the sheets of guide-comb, especially if a light cloth be gently laid above them.

Another method of transferring them from the skep is to spread a sheet, or newspaper, in front of the bar-frame hive, which should be slightly raised in front from the floor-board. Then, by a smart jerk, as before, the bees are thrown on to the sheet or newspaper, close to the entrance, and they will immediately run in and up on to the comb-foundation.

Sometimes a swarm will divide into two parts, each of which will settle separately. In such a case, it is tolerably certain that two queens have emerged together, as very often happens with second or later swarms. When such a division of forces occurs, unless each portion is sufficiently large to form a stock by itself, it will be advisable to hive them separately, and then speedily to unite them, leaving the rival sovereigns to fight for the supremacy.

Occasionally a colony settles around the stem of a tree, or some place equally inconvenient for being detached. The difficulty may sometimes be met by brushing as many bees as can be got at into a hive, or by holding a hive above the place of settling, and by smoke driving the insects upwards, till they learn the whereabouts of comfortable quarters. At other times there is no resource but making the swarm take to flight, in the hope that a more suitable place will be chosen by them for their next assemblage. There is a danger, however, that if thus compelled to move, a too distant excursion may be made, and the whole colony thus be lost.

As soon as all, or very nearly all, the bees have gone up into the skep, or into the quarters they are to occupy, it is advisable to move them to the stand intended for their permanent position. Some apiarians, however, recommend waiting till evening for taking this step. We must dissent from their opinion for two reasons: firstly, because it often happens that, in a place away from the apiary, something may occur to disturb the bees, and they will forsake the hive. In fact, last season (1883) we have ourselves lost a valuable colony, which, through not being brought home at once from the place where they had settled, were meddled with by a passing dog, and took another flight far away, and, though followed long and diligently inquired after, they were not again discovered. Then, too, the sooner the bees are placed in their proper position, the sooner will those going in quest of supplies learn their new home. If left so little as six or eight hours in the spot at which they first settle, many will continue to hover about it all the succeeding day, and even longer. For these reasons, therefore, we advocate a speedy carrying of a swarm to the site selected for it.

It is an established fact that, previously to swarming, bees often send forth scouts to select a place for settling. Neighbour records a curious instance of this kind. He says: "A lady, who lived about a quarter of a mile from our apiary, sent to us to say that a swarm had gone in at a hole over her stable, and to ask us to come and hive them. On our going to do so, her gardener told us that he had seen, three days previous, two or three bees as if reconnoitring; next day several came, and about eleven o'clock on the third day the whole swarm went in, and took up their position between the rafters [? joists] under the flooring. The difficulty was now to get at them. A carpenter was sent for, the boards were taken up, a hive was set over, with a brood-comb placed in it attract them, and by dint of smoke and brushing to with a feather, the queen and her retinue were coaxed to ascend into the hive. Some of the bees had already gone out to forage, and there were many flying about that had not settled; so, to secure these, and to make it easy for them, we brought the hive out, and erected a sort of platform on a pair of steps close to the hole, which we stopped. By night-time all the out-flying bees had joined the swarm, and were easily removed."

The number of bees in a swarm varies considerably, but the usual amount is from 10,000 to 15,000. In rarer cases, there will be from 20,000 to 25,000. Von Berlepsch, by careful experiments, estimated that about 4,000 gorged bees weighed 1 lb.: so that a good swarm will weigh from 3 lbs. to 5 lbs. As may be easily understood, the more numerous the bees, the better for the future of the colony, provided there is space in the hive for them to work in.

The hive which has sent forth a colony usually contains large quantities of brood and eggs, and some cells in which princesses are more or less developed, so that queens would be provided in proportional succession. If the stock has been so weakened that it is not intended, by the workers remaining, that another colony should issue during the season, the first queen who emerges is allowed to destroy all her royal sisters remaining in the cells, and she, at once, avails herself of the opportunity of so doing. If, on the other hand, the amount of the on-coming brood is very large, and it is manifest that again the hive will become too crowded, the queen is restrained from her murderous propensities. She resents this interference by uttering the sharp cries of "peep-peep," previously mentioned, and is answered in similar tones by her still imprisoned rival sisters. This is a sure sign of the approaching emergence of a second colony. Within two or three days of the piping being heard, the expected event takes place, though occasionally it may be delayed, by cloudy or wet or cold weather, till the fifth day. Such a second exodus is called a "cast." Sometimes in the excitement of "casting" several young queens, who have been under guard, will escape; and as many as five have been known thus to issue with a second swarm: indeed, Langstroth mentions one instance of eight queens having thus left the parent stock at one time. Of course, when such an event occurs, if all are hived with the general cluster, they will fight till one only is left to enjoy supremacy in the community. If the settling of the swarm takes place in two or three places, it is pretty sure that more than one queen has come forth. It is best then to search for one or more, and to remove them, to be used, if necessary, in other hives, and then to unite the separate clusters.

To third and later swarms from the same hive, the fanciful names of "colts" and "fillies" have been given, but they are going out of general use.

Swarms subsequent to the first are usually less than it in amount of bees. For this reason it is advisable not to make them into separate stocks, unless very strong, but either, after removing the queen, to return them to the parent hive, or to unite two or more casts, so as to form one strong colony. It may be remarked that there is this advantage about a cast, that all the bees, queen included, are young, and so are likely to work with vigour; and if sent off early in the season, and naturally or artificially strong in numbers, they may become a powerful community: but everything will depend upon the two conditions just mentioned.

Where it is not really wished to increase the number of stocks, it is much better to prevent "casting," by cutting out all queen-cells five or six days after the first swarm. The reason of the delay in the operation is, that, by that time, all eggs and larvæ left by the old queen will have advanced to a stage at which the workers cannot convert them into queens, even if they desire to do so.

Another reason, besides the weakness of after swarms, why efforts should be made to prevent casting is, that the old stock often becomes, by the swarming mania, too greatly diminished in population to prosper, and a double loss is incurred—loss of honey, which would be stored largely by a stock restrained from self-diminution, and loss of general strength, through there not being bees enough to collect food for store, and to look after the constantly hatching brood.

A curious illustration of sagacity in the workers is, that casts and after-swarms, if allowed to build in a box as they please, select a corner, instead of the middle, for beginning, knowing that, through the smallness of their numbers, they are unlikely to fill their abode with comb, and so taking the precaution to secure the snuggest and warmest position for such combs as they will be able to construct. They feel that their only chance of surviving as a colony is their being able to keep up sufficient heat to hatch the eggs, and to bring forward the brood in the early autumn and the next spring. First swarms, confident in their strength, commence their work in the middle of a hive.

We have already mentioned that the bees, in swarming, start with their honey-bags full. This supply will last them about three days. If, at the end of that time, the weather should be dull and unfavourable for flying abroad, great benefit will be conferred on the young colony by giving a supply of syrup. We shall speak later on of the method in which it is to be administered. As bees waste nothing, and never remain idle because they have a store of food, whatever is given them will be economically used. Moreover, they prefer their natural sources of supply, and will not take advantage of their owner's generosity in giving them syrup, if they can gather honey. At the same time, the needs of a new stock are great during the first two or three weeks, since much wax has to be made, and homes and provender for the coming young have to be in readiness. It is, therefore, a wise and benevolent and paying plan to feed all swarms whom the weather prevents from gathering abundant supplies in the fields. By this means no time is lost in comb-building: all the workers remain vigorous for flight and indoor duties: the queen, encouraged by finding no lack of food for her future offspring, will get on with laying as fast as the cells are ready to receive her eggs; and thus all the elements of a prosperous community will be secured.