372 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc 



(look out you don't start robbing), or water may be added and tbe 

 li(juid added to tlie vinegar. 



^\'hen combs are new and tender, and heavily filled with honey, 

 there is danger that they may be broken if turned too rapidly in the 

 extractor. A good plan is to turn rather slowly until about one-half 

 the honey is extracted from one side of the combs, then reverse 

 and extract all from the second side, when the remainder may be 

 extracted from the first side. 



SWARMING. 



If the only thing to be done through the summer was toi put on 

 empty receptacles for the surplus honey, and then to take them off 

 when filled, it would be pretty clear sailing. But just when pros- 

 pects look most favorable for a good harvest, and bees are storing 

 most rapidly, there is likely to be a sudden change in the program. 

 The colony swarms, and the force left in the old hive is so weak that 

 under ordinary circumstance® nothing more is done in the supers. 

 The swarm, if very strong, may do some good work in supers, but 

 if the remainder of the season is not very good it may do no more 

 than fill up its hive ready for winter. In any case the swarm and 

 the mother colony together are not likely to yield as much surplus 

 as the latter would have done alone had there been no swarming. 

 An exception to this rule might occur in a locality where there was 

 a large yield from buckwheat and other late liouey-plants. 



Left to its own deviceisi, a strong colony is likely to swarm twice 

 each season, sometimes three, four or more times. The first swarm, 

 called also prime swarm, is likely to issue during the first part of 

 June, when the wliite clover harvest is fairly begun, some swarms 

 continuing to come later, and in rare cases a ©warm may issue as 

 early as fruit bloom. A first swarm maj^ also occur during the 

 fall flow, generally called a buckwheat swarm, but such swarms 

 are not common. The old queen comes out with the first swarm, 

 leaving no queen in the hive, but it is a mistake to speak of the 

 queen leading out the swarm, for she does not generally leave the 

 hive until a large portion of the swarm is out, and she may be among 

 the very last. A swarm contains bees of all ages from the oldest to 

 the youngest. 



There is no certain way to tell beforehand when a prime swarm Avill 

 issue without examining the brood-combs. Even then you may not 

 be certain, but if you find a number of queen-cells, you may expect 

 a swarm to issue when the first of them is sealed. It w easy to dis- 

 tingiiisli ii queen cell. ;is yon Avill see by Hie illustration. 



