196 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-6 EDWARD VII., A. 1906 



Six other liives are previously prepared for swarms, each containing, in the 

 order named from left to right: four dummies, one starter, one worker comb and 

 two starters.- One of these hives is brought and set on a stand directly behind one of 

 the hives to be treated. The operator removes the first two dummies (Nos. 1 and 2) 

 from the left or nearer side of the newi hive, and puts them on one side. He then lifts 

 from the brood chamber of the old hive the comb nearest to him, shakes it almost free 

 of bees, and places it in the new hive next the left wall. The next comb in the old 

 hive has a double space for shaking off. After being shaken it is placed beside the first, 

 and the return motion of the hand carries the dummy (No. 3) from the new hive to 

 the old one. Comb No. 3 is shaken, carried to the new hive, and dummy No. 4 is brought 

 back. The fourth comb changes place with the first starter, and so on. When the 

 eighth comb has been shaken in its own hive and transferred to the new, the brood 

 chamber of the old hive is filled up with the remaining two dummies, Nos. 1 and 2. 

 We then put supers on again, close the hive and the bees have been swarmed. 



On the seventh day after shaking, the four old colonies were removed to another 

 location. Most of the bees that were flying went with the shaken swarm, leaving the 

 old colony so weak that it did not have any inclination to swarm, and only made sufB- 

 cient honey to carry it over winter. 



At the close of the season we had from this test 10 colonies and 432 pounds of 

 extracted honey. 



EXPERIMENTS IN IMPROVING STOCKS OF BEES. 



Every farmer knows that there are great differences in his cows, hens, &c., but 

 there is too often an idea that all bees are alike, and that bee-keeping is all a matter 

 of luck. If you observe closely, you will find that one colony of bees may give you 

 good returns, while another just beside it, does nothing in the surplus chamber. Bees 

 are by no means all alike. They differ in disposition, temper, industry, and in other 

 ways. It is worth while for you to have the best. Fortunately the change from poor 

 to good stock may be made more rapidly than with other stock, and at less expense. 

 By paying out a dollar or two for a queen, you may change a colony of poorest black 

 bees to Italians. All you need to do is to send off your order to a reliable queen- 

 breeder, such as advertise in our bee journals and agricultural papers, and the queen 

 will come by mail, with directions for introducing it, which are easily followed. As a 

 worker bee only lives about six weeks in the honey season, and, as the new queen 

 will be laying from one to three thousand eggs in a day, you will see that, if you get an 

 Italian queen into a colony, it will not be a great while until all the bees in the hive 

 are Italian. Even if you do not change from one kind of bees to another, it is gen- 

 erally a matter of advantage to introduce fresh blood occasionally. In any case, 

 whether you get fresh stock from outside or not, whether your bees are Italians or 

 hybrids, there is always something to be done in the way of improving your stock, so 

 long as any one of your colonies is better than the others. 



How are you to know which are your best colonies? By keeping track of their 

 performance, and putting it down in black and white. You can keep account of the 

 amount of surplus honey you take from each colony, and set it down at the time. The 

 next year you can select the best colony for your queen-breeder, and a certain number 

 of the next best colonies for drone rearing. One thing, however, must be taken into 

 consideration, and that is, whether there has been no change of queens in any of these 

 colonies. The colony that gave you the largest amount of surplus last year, may have 

 got a new queen last fall or this spring; the young queen may also have met a drone 

 of poor stock, and from this you do not wish to breed. You can, therefore, count only 

 on those colonies that have made a good record and still have the same queen with 

 which they began the season last year. You must also take into account any special 

 advantages or disadvantages. For instance, if from colony No. 1 you took two frames 

 of brood in the spring to give to No. 2, and you then found that No. 2 stored just a 



