THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



45 



x>r by i^ravitation, which requires stor- 

 age-tanks, besiiles the added work, 

 aroma is lost in the store-rooms which 

 ninety-nine out of a hundred have, and 

 in ordinary climates moisture is col- 



lected, and germs of fermentation, 

 which are always floating- about, settle 

 in the honey, and may be the founda- 

 tion for trouble at a future time. 



Bkantkoki) Ont , Jan. 20, 1906. 





R. G. AIKIN. 



rr/ HIS subject is important. I g^o so 

 i far as to say that until we can 

 "control increase" — swarming', for I 

 take it that is what you mean — we are 

 not master of the bees. Until we mas- 

 ter them we are at a very g^reat dis- 

 advantage. The fact is, until the 

 apiarist becomes master of swarming, 

 there is no certainty as to results in 

 anything, except at too great cost of 

 time and labor. 



When a colony is just strong enough 

 to properly handle the brood chamber 

 iind one super, when gathering at the 

 rate of five pounds of nectar daily, in 

 steady warm days and nights, we will 

 call it a normal or fair one. Increase 

 the flow a little, and the bees will use a 

 second super. Decrease it, and the 

 one super is too much; they will flU it 

 if the flow lasts ^ono^ enough, but slow 

 super-work means poor finish unless 

 we take away the extra room. The 

 problem is not simply to get the bees 

 into the super, it is a question of pro- 

 portion, always. So, as the flow is 

 slow or fast, steady or intermittent, 

 the weather cold or warm, as the pro- 

 portion of fielders is to the nurse bees, 

 as the queen is young or old, feeble or 

 vigorous; so will results change, and 

 any change in the relation of the fac- 

 tors necessarily has its bearing on the 

 work being done. 



You see how utterly impossible it is 

 to have all the faptor^ right; henpe, w§ 



must provide, as best we can, against 

 loss by the weather being too hot or 

 too cold, or the flow being free slow, or 

 intermittent, etc. 



Years ago, when no effort was made 

 to control swarming, and when few 

 men ever undertook to keep bees in 

 large numbers, then we were careful 

 to watch almost daily for swarms; also 

 the progress made in the supers, so as 

 to add to or take from as the case re- 

 quired, such as slipping out a full 

 section and in an empty; yes, in those 

 days we did get some fine results. 

 Such methods do very well for those 

 who have a few colonies only for recre- 

 ative uses or to study the bee, but when 

 it comes to using the bees to make the 

 most out of them, as a business, it is 

 difl'erent. Instead of being a servant, 

 daily, ministering to conditions that 

 are ever varying, we must eliminate as 

 far as possible those hindrances — make 

 conditions that are least afifected by 

 these changes or irregularities. The 

 thing that seems to offer by all odds 

 the greeitest relief, is control of swariu- 

 ing. 



THE FACTOK.S TH.VT CONTKOf. S\VARIV|- 

 INQ. 



Bqt when we go at the control-probT 

 lern, vyhat will (Jo it one place or time 

 will not in cvnother; that is to say, 

 son^etiiries we have present factors that 

 }ea4 to swarming-, etc., tUat are not 



