THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



I5t 



if ho coukl oi'ly ^^llp ir. coinl.s ol" lion- 

 (v niui be doiu' witli ilV Uy usiii;;- I'.n; 

 woi-kcr portions of sonio (if tlioso 

 coiiitts to p.-itcli the rest with, lenvinii 

 eiiou,i;ii lor st;irtors, oiio ^ets a lot of 

 \\(trki'r lioi:oy-coinbs for next spring's 

 use. some frames witli starters of 

 coml) for next suiium'r"s use. son-.e 

 tiimmiiigs of tli'oiio honey for the 

 taole, out of a miseeihiueous lot con- 

 tainiui: corners ami streaks of drone- 

 eomh: or. if no spring feeilins; is re- 

 piired. those completfMl conilis can be 

 nsed to replace the drone-combs of next 

 seaso'ii. It is also i)ossible to wait un- 

 til the next April Itefore doinii" this 

 work, i»ut that is not so well, for then 

 foundation cannot be used, ie. this lati- 

 lu.de. to replace the combs rem )v<-{]. 

 but extra drawn combs would be re- 

 (piired for the ]iurpose; and. too. ,i 

 little delay of the work, carrvin.i; it in- 

 to May, means some chunks of dvone- 

 (<ind». By thus using foundation only 

 U' replace actual drone combs, instead 

 of in the whole brood-chamber, Avhen 

 the b(>es Avill be sure to build raoi'e 

 than half all worker combs anyway, 

 one saves the labor of wiring four 

 to six frames to the hive, and saves 

 the expense of four to six sheets of 

 foundation to the hive and has more 

 honev." 



SWARMING IN OUT-APIARIES. 



How ti) Manage it so that Constant Watching 

 Is not Needed. 



Quite freiiuentl.v, when I am telling 

 some bee-keeper how Mr. M. A. Gill 

 and wife, of Colorado, manage 7f)0 col- 

 oiii(>s for comb honey, visiting an 

 ai)iary every day in the week, my lis- 

 tener will ask "how about swarmingV 

 I should think that they would lose 

 lots of swarms." They don't, and Mr. 



Cill tells, in the Rocky Mountain Bee 

 Journal *'xactly how he manages. lie 

 says:— 



••First, I will say, I do everything I 

 (•■•Ml to i>revent swarming, chiefest of 

 which is to get on suiplus arrange- 

 ments too soon rather than too late, 

 and never .-illow the bees to get into 

 that clog",ged condition so conducive to 

 swarming. My plan involves careful 

 painstaking and hard work, and you 

 would need one good manipulator to 

 work with you in an iipi.ary of from 

 KHi to ir)U colonies one day each week. 

 .My plan is, perhaps, as close to 

 nature as any pl:in yet devised, and 

 in carrying it out 1 follow .Josh Bil- 

 ling's advice about setting hens. Josh 

 says, never set your hen till she wants 

 to set. Applying this wise plan in 

 the making of artificial swarms, I go 

 to an apiary just before swarming 

 time, so as to establish a date, and 

 give every colony an examination for 

 swarming and di-aw from all that 

 show any indication of swarming by 

 distributing brood among the weaker 

 colonies. This will make them safe 

 to leave for six days. 



In six days I again visit them with 

 my helper (in my case it's my wiff 

 and I am the helper, as there is con- 

 siderable liftirg to do) and carefully 

 examine every colony, and every col- 

 ony that shows a disposition to swarm 

 is-; simply shook (there go Root and 

 Miller into another scrap) according 

 to the Colorado plan. 



When I carry out this plan I do it 

 heroically, and. when I carry the old 

 liive to the new stand I know it's fixed 

 irom all after-swaiming, as I only 

 l(>;ive 'ust enough bees to care for the 

 brood, and it's sunirising how few it 

 takes, as the brood is hatching very 

 fast at that time of the year. 



The new swarm on the old stand 

 having received all the working force, 

 and in fact more bees than a natural 



