REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 183 
SESSIONAL PAPER No. 8a 
wind, examine each colony and see that it has a good laying queen and plenty of stores. 
Should there be insutticient honey, give them a frame of honey with the cappings scraped 
off, placing it as close to the brood as possible, also close the entrance more or less 
according to the strength of the colony. If the colony is very strong, the entrance may 
be left about two inches in width ; if weak, close. down to about one-half inch. Great 
care should be taken to protect the hives from cold draughts in spring. As the weather 
gets warmer and the colonies stronger, open the entrances. On many days the bees in 
the House Apiary and in the sheltered apiary will be flying and gathering pollen, while 
the bees in the exposed apiary are at home keeping the cold air off the brood, If you 
have a propolis quilt or chaff cushion on the hives, leave it there until the colony is 
strong enough for a super for sections, or for extracting frames ; then all should be 
removed. 
The time for putting on supers is when the hive is full of bees and there are good 
prospects of a honey flow ; by allowing plenty of room, swarming will be prevented to 
some extent. In this section of the country great care should be taken to see that each 
colony has plenty of honey during the period between the fruit bloom and clover bloom. 
Many failures at this time are due to lack of stores, and too much attention cannot be 
paid to this point. I would advise feeding if necessary up to the clover bloom to force 
brood-rearing, so as to have the colonies strong. Excessive swarming may be forced or 
prevented as desired. 
If swarms are desired, crowd the bees and stimulate them with syrup. I would 
not advise allowing more than one swarm from each colony. To prevent excessive 
swarming give the bees plenty of room and do not wait until they swarm, but put on 
the supers as soon as the colony is strong enough to work in them. Should swarming 
occur, remove the hive to another stand, take a new hive, put the swarm into it and 
place it on the stand from which the swarming hive was removed. The old colony may 
be further weakened by taking out several frames and shaking all the bees off in front 
of the newly hived swarm. 
For hives placed in a garden choose some convenient place near the dwelling where 
those busy about the house can see any swarms as soon as they leave the hive and settle. 
It is better to locate the hives away from the immediate proximity of high trees because 
when the bees swarm they are apt to settle too high up to be secured without much 
trouble. When gathering a swarm, a most important help is Manum’s wire cloth swarming 
device, or a similar one, even a large pail attached to the end of a pole, will answer. The 
use of these will save many swarms and many stings for the operator. The pole may be 
made in joints so as to allow of extension to the required height. There are many pat- 
terns of swarm collectors, most of which consist of a ring of stout wire about 2 feet 
in diameter, bearing a bag of some light material of about 2 feet in length. This is 
put up beneath the swarm and the bees shaken into it. It is then lowered and the bees 
are emptied out in front of a new hive, already prepared for them. 
Swarms which settle on shrubs, are much more easily handled. All that is required 
is to take a piece of sacking, spread it on the ground under the swarm, place the hive 
properly prepared on the sacking, give the limb or shrub a sharp jar, when the swarm will 
drop in front of the hive and at once enter it. Another excellent plan is to take a frame 
of drawn comb or a frame of unsealed brood, and draw it up against the swarm ; a large 
majority of the bees will soon gather upon the frame, which should then be placed in a 
hive with several more frames. Those bees which have already clustered on the frames 
will begin to call their companions ; as soon as a few have found the entrance they will 
announce their discovery by the usual vibration of the wings (‘humming’). Should the 
swarm still cling to the tree or shrub, a bunch of grass or a twig from an evergreen is 
useful to brush them off with. The hive should be left until the bees have all entered 
it, and as soon as they have done so, the hive should be carried to its permanent loca- 
tion in the apiary. If the colony is a strong one and the season favourable, place at 
once on the hive a super or extracting frames. When the honey flow and swarming 
seasons begin, everything should be in readiness to receive the swarms. Supers should 
be filled with sections, each of which is provided with a full sheet of foundation, and 
the extracting frames should also have full sheets of foundation in them, and must be 
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