>The resurgence of interest in Warre and top bar  comes from a new generation
of hobbyists who like the romantic idea that the bees know best,   

I would agree, and also the concern about pesticides,
a miss-trust of commercially produced food, causing
a rise of homestead farming and beekeeping.

I do not keep warres, but I would like to respond
to some of what I agree with, as well as to some of
the misconceptions. 

> just let
them be, if they swarm then its natural . 

There is nothing wrong with letting colonies swarm
off.  For centuries, beekeepers have valued
colonies which swarm as a way to increase numbers.
Watch your apiary and collect the swarms has been
advised from Virgil to the present.

>The
difficulty in inspecting brood both for swarm preparations and disease will
lead to increase in both, to the detriment of other beekeepers around. 

Bad beekeeping practices exist in all forms of beekeeping.
You could just as easily single out procedures tied 
to the Langstroth hives as troublesome to spreading 
disease.

I disagree with the assumption that disease will
spread to neighboring beekeepers because of Warres.  
I would think disease would be controlled to a large part, 
simply by the methods used in Warrre beekeeping. Ie:
harvesting honey by cutting comb from bars, -not reusing 
comb, -and not mixing frames into other colonies as would 
often happen with harvesting fixed frames.  Transfer of 
disease from reusing comb has been proven to be one 
of the most common ways disease is spread.

I had the opportunity to set up 6 warres with bees 
for another beekeeper, and worked the colonies for 
a period of time.  Yes, inspecting of brood for disease 
and swarm prep is a bit more difficult.  But from what I
have seen, few beekeepers know how to inspect
for disease, and rely on the State Inspector, which
will easily find disease in a warre if it exists.  Warres
can be made with half frames as the 6 warres I
worked with were.  With these frames, they are 
as easily inspected as langstroth frames.

>Personally (as a beekeeper who has to spend considerable time moping up
other peoples' swarms to avoid beekeeping getting a bad reputation in my
home town) 

This past May has been the busiest year for swarm
collecting for me since 1995.  Not a single swarm was 
proven to come from domestic beekeeping, nor 
could I prove for certain they came from feral sources.
So to have beekeepers assume the blame for these
swarms IMO would be irresponsible.  

Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle

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