231 



they place tliem upon another basket or hive. It is in this manner 

 that the Greeks mnltiply their hives." The abbot, Delhi Rocca, of 

 Syra, in the Grecian archipelago, in his Traite complet sur les Aheilles, 

 pnblished at Paris in 1790, mentions this as " a method of the ancient 

 Greeks for the mnltiplication of swarms, which is employed today by 

 the inhabitants of the Island of Candia." And 

 Liger, the author of La Mn'ison rustiqiie, in the 

 eighth edition published in 1742, gives a figure of 

 one of these basket hives, which is here reproduced 

 (Fig. 30). 



Most of the systems of preventing or limiting 

 natural swarming have depended upon the for- 

 mation of a limited number of artificial swarms, 

 frequent destruction of queen-cells by the bee- 

 keeper, close use of the honey-extractor, the com- 

 bining of after-swarms, changing X3laces for hives, 

 replacing of all queens annually, supplying empty 

 space for comb-building below the brood-nest or between the brood- 

 nest and flight-hole, or there has been some combination of these 

 methods. 



Fig. 30.— Ancient Greek 

 movable e o m b hive. 

 (From La Maison rus- 

 tique, published in 1742). 



NON-SWARMING BEES, AUTOMATIC SWARM-HIVERS, ETC. 



From time to time queens have been advertised as bred from '' non- 

 swarming strains of bees." While it is very reasonable to suppose 



Fics.31. — Bee-hives with Langdon non-swarmer attached: A, B, hives; jS, .9', supers ; D, non-swarming 

 device; e, e', entrances corresponding to hive-entrances; si, slide for closing entrance ; c, c', conical 

 wire-cloth bee-escapes ; ex, ex', exits of same. 



that the inclination to swarm might be decreased considerably by long- 

 continued, careful selection, such as could be given had we better con- 

 trol over mating, it is safe to say that comparatively slight permanent 

 results have thus far been attained in this direction. And since swarms 



