104 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



vantages over the old way of drawing 

 brood, and confining for several days, 

 when there is a loss of eggs and 

 larvae, and, by the time a queen is 

 reared, and her brood is hatching, the 

 nucleus is very near to nothing. 



The weak colony that received the 

 swarm, that would have been of no use 

 for surplus that season, is brought to 

 the swarming point very quickljs as 

 the queen is old, and almost sure to 

 swarm, in due season, when the same 

 thing of making nuclei can be repeated. 



It is a well-known fact that the bees 

 of a queenless colony in the air, that 

 divides, and enters two or three col- 

 onies (which are nearly always strong, 

 as the pouring in and out of the work- 

 ers is a drawing card) are nearly all 

 killed; and occasionally a weak colon^^ 



will show fight, but no damage will be 

 done; I find it better not to use a parti- 

 cle of smoke on the weak colony, nor 

 shake it up any more than possible, 

 and not place it on the stand until the 

 swarm is returning, and will thus enter 

 quickly, then the weak colony, being 

 quiet, will form in a ball around the 

 queen, and no fighting will occur. 



This plan of hiving in with weak 

 colonies is a great advantage where 

 no increase is desired, as the old queen 

 can be put back home, and the swarm 

 in the weak colony will gather more 

 honey than before they swarmed. 



All this is simple, and perhaps not 

 new, but is ahead of any method I ever 

 heard of. 



Blodgett Mills, N. Y., July 3. 190.5. 



Foipetellllinig amdl Fir©vein\tlini| 



G. A. OLMSTEAD. 



DOUBT there being any one thing 

 that bee-keepers want and need, 

 any more than they do some means by 

 which swarming may be successfully 

 ^x\i\ practically prevented. Or if swarms 

 are desired, some way to know just 

 when to expect them, without going 

 through the whole hive. This is espe- 

 cially desirable where bees are kept 

 away from home. Shook-swarming is 

 a great help; and by it I have, in past 

 3'ears, been able to keep bees in three 

 counties at the same time; but one of 

 the greatest hindrance was to know 

 just which colonies were prep^iring to 

 swarm; as it is not best to shake them 

 unless necessary. To overcome this 

 obstacle was the first object of my in- 

 tention ; and when I had the hive ar- 

 ranged so that I could learn the exact 

 condition of things in the brood nest, 

 in less than a minute, without remov- 



ing the super or cover, in fact, almost 

 without the bees knowing that any one 

 was around, it required only one more 

 step to make it possible to entirely do 

 azvay with swaruiing. That this is no 

 dream, that this can be done, and done 

 in a satisfacfory way, I believe will be 

 apparent to many practical bee-keep- 

 ers, even before trying my plan, and 

 I wish to say to those who may think 

 that I have been selfish in the matter, 

 and especially to friend Doolittle, who 

 gave me a sort of a friendly prod in 

 Gleanings, that had it not have been 

 for severe sickness, from February to 

 August, they would have had this a 

 year ago. 



KORRTFCLLING SWARMING. 



In the place of one of the ordinary, 

 central top-bars I have one 3^ inch 

 deep, and not quite as long as the in- 



