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IXrCRZSASi:. under lieiid of Nucleus 

 several methods of forming nuclei are ex- 

 plained, but under this head we shall deal 

 with the subject more from the standpoint 

 of the honey-producer who actually desires 

 increase and at the same time produce a crop 

 of honey. One can divide up a strontj colo- 

 ny into three or four nuclei; but in doing so 

 he would *in-obably destroy all liis chances 

 of securing a crop of honey, and might pos- 

 sibly cause some brood to die. It should al- 

 ways be borne in mind that the field bees 

 will go back to the old stand. The nucleus 

 left will necessarily receive more than its 

 proper proportion of bees, while those moved 

 to the other locations may or may not (de- 

 pending upon circumstances) have too few 

 bees to take care of young brood. The loss 

 of brood may be minimized somewhat by 

 putting most of the sealed b oodon other 

 stands and a large part of tlie unsealed at 

 the old stand; but if the divisiou be made 

 during cold weather even the sealed brood 

 may die from chilling. 



The plan that we are about to describe 

 avoids all this loss of brood, and at the same 

 time eiuibles one to make a moderate in- 

 crease as well as secure a honey crop. It was 

 practiced and recommended l3y one of the 

 most extensive bee-keepers in tlie United 

 States, Mr. E. W. Alexander, who has been 

 recognized as an authority on general prac- 

 tical apiculture, for indeed his crojis of honey 

 have gone up into tlie carloads. lie first 

 made the plan public in 1905, after having 

 tested it many years. So many favorable com- 

 ments were received of bee-keepers who 

 had tried it and found it to be a success that 

 we republished it with some slight modifi- 

 cations in 1906. We here present the plan as 

 it was given in Gleanings, page 423, 1906 : 



When your colonies are nearly full enough to 

 swarm naturally, and j'ou wish to divide them so as 

 to malie two from one, go to the colony you wish to 

 divide; lift it from its stand and put in its place a 

 hive containing frames of comb or foundation, the 

 same as you would put the swarm in providing it 

 had just swarmt'd. Now remove the center comb 

 from this empty hive, and put in its place a frame 

 of brood, either from the hive you wish to divide or 

 SDiiie other colony that can spare one, and be sure 

 to find the queen and put her on this frame of 

 lirood in tlie new hive; also look it over very care- 

 fully to see that it contains no eggs or larvas in any 



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<iueen-cells!. If it does, destroy them Now put a 

 queen-excluding honey-board on top of thisnew hive 

 tliat contains the queen and frame of brood with 

 their emp ;y combs, then set your full queenless col- 

 ony over tjhe excluder; next put in the empty comb 

 or frame \of foundation, wherever you got your 

 frame of brood, and close the upper hive except the 

 entrance they have through the excluder into the 

 hive below. ^Now leave them in this way about five 

 days, then look over the combs carefully, and de- 

 stroy any larvfe you may find in the queen-cells un- 

 less tiiey are of a good strain of bees that you care 

 to breed fi-om, for they frequently start the rearing 

 of queens above the excluder very soon after their 

 queen was placed below the excluder. If so, you 

 had better separate them at once; but if they have 

 not started any queen-cells above, then leave them 

 together ten or eleven days, during which time the 

 queen will get a fine lot of hrood started in the lower 

 hive, and every egg and particle of larva that 

 was in the old hive on top will have matured, so 

 it will be capped over and saved; then separate them, 

 putting the old hive on a new stand. It will then 

 be full of j'oung bees mostly, and capped brood, and 

 in about twenty-four hours they will accept a ripe 

 cell, a virgin, or laying queen, as they will then re- 

 alize that they are hopelesslj' queenless. I would 

 advise you to give them a laying queen, as I never 

 like to keep my full colonies for even a day long- 

 er without a laying queen than I can help. In 

 this way you have two strong colonies from one, as 

 you have not lost a particle of brood nor checked 

 the laying of your queen; and with me it almost 

 wholly prevents swarming. This is the way we have 

 made our increase for several years, and we like it 

 much better than any other method we ever tried- 

 In doing so you keep all your colonies strong during 

 the whole summer, and it is the strong colonies that 

 count in giving us our surplus. 



The mere fact of having a large number of colo- 

 nies does not amount to much unless they are strong 

 in bees and aie well cared for at all times. This is a 

 fact that many have sadly overlooked; and when the 

 season comes to a close, givingthem asmall surplus, 

 they feel disappointed and lay the fault on many 

 things that have had but little to do with their fail- 

 ure. 



In making your increase in the above way your 

 new swarm on the old stand is in fine shape for a 

 ciamp of sections, as it has a large working force 

 backed up by having its hive nearly full of brood, 

 and but little honej% as the bees have been in the 

 habit of storing their honey in the old hive that was 

 on top, so th; y will soon go to work in the sections 

 and have no notion of swarming. Then the old hive 

 that has been set away can usually spare 15 or 20 lbs. 

 ot honey, which can be taken with the extractor, 

 giving its new queen plenty of room to lay, and in 

 a short time will be one of youi- best colonies, and 

 also have no desire to swarm. 



Now, if you have done your duty by your bees 

 since taking them from their winter quarters, as I 

 have reconunendtd in the above, keeping them snug 



