Beekeeping in the Clover Region. 25 
TIME AND FREQUENCY OF REQUEENING. ; 
There must be no interruption of brood-rearing during the period 
when bees are being reared for the winter colony, and nothing should 
be done which will stop egg-laying for even a day during the time 
between the beginning of brood-rearing in the spring and the begin- 
ning of the clover honey-flow. During the spring it is difficult to 
rear queens. Clearly, then, requeening must be done between the 
beginning of the clover honey-flow and August 1. The exact time 
will depend on the method of swarm control employed and on 
whether there is a honey-flow later than that from the clovers. In 
most cases the best time to introduce new queens is just in time for 
them to mate and begin laying early in August. If the beekeeper 
rears his own queens, as he should if he is heavily engaged in bee- 
keeping, he will usually find it desirable to start his queencells about 
the middle of July. They may be introduced by means of a cell 
protector after the removal of the queens about two days before the 
young queens are ready to emerge. In due time they will emerge, 
mate, and begin laying eggs, and the interval of no egg-laying at 
this season will do no harm. For methods of rearing queens the 
reader must be referred to the books on beekeeping, but it may be 
stated that this is a branch of the work with which every beekeeper 
should make himself familiar, since it is not wise to depend on the 
purchase of all one’s queens. 
If the methods of beekeeping herein described are followed it will 
be more necessary to requeen annually than has been the case with 
the usual practices of beekeepers of the clover region. If extracted 
honey is being produced, the queens wear out faster than in the 
average comb-honey apiary. As we go southward in the clover 
region the necessity of annual requeening is greater than where the 
seasons are shorter. If there is no regular fall honey-flow, annual 
requeening to insure the establishment of the winter colony is desir- 
able. If requeening is left to the bees through supersedure, too 
often it happens that the spring brood-rearing period is broken, 
resulting in the loss of the crop. Taking all of these things into con- 
sideration, annual requeening is advisable throughout most of the 
clover region, and this practice is increasing. 
INCREASE. 
In ordinary practice increase in the number of colonies by division 
before or during the honey-flow from clover results in a decrease in 
the honey-crop, except when such increase is made from brood which 
will emerge too late to take part in gathering the crop (p. 22). It 
is also detrimental to make increase after early August, when bees 
for winter are being reared. Increase is therefore limited in time 
just as is requeening. 
