330 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ingf swarming; and, however perfect 

 the device to prevent swarming ma}' 

 be, clogging the brood nest with it 

 would in most instances induce swarm- 

 ing. This necessitated, at the time of 

 introducing the dummies between the 

 brood combs, a removal of such as 

 were well filled with pollen — leaving 

 only such as contained but little or 

 none. This being carefully done at 

 the beginning of the honey flow, re- 

 sulted satisfactorily. Still, with an 

 intense honey flow, and a consequent 

 yield of pollen, it became necessary to 

 remove the outside comb of the strong- 

 est colonies, at the end of two or three 

 weeks of white clover yield. Such 

 combs are usuall}' solid with pollen. 

 Let us note that colonies which do not 

 swarm are possessed with double the 

 working force, and for which reason, 

 about dt)uble the amount of pollen 

 is stored, unless working on linden 

 The reader will also note that 

 swarming in such an event is the onl}' 

 relitf tli.ii can be aflforded the colony — 

 outside of human agency. 



Let us carefully consider how beau- 

 tifully Nature, tiirough the instinctive 

 workings of the colony, brings this 

 about. With the brood area almost 

 com|)ietely clogged with pollen, a con- 

 dition is reached not unlike that of a 

 failing queen, when roj'al cells are be- 

 gun, which results in swarming. 

 After swarming, this excess of pollen 

 is part]}' consumed by the unsealed 

 brood in various stages requiring food. 

 This period followed by twenty-one 

 days more before the 3'oung queens 

 progeny matures will practically re- 

 duce the supply of pollen in the hive. 

 We now see how Nature in the economy 

 of the hive brings about a perfect bal- 

 ance in her workings, and we, to meet 

 Nature in this respect, must remove 

 the excess of pollen whenever it be- 

 comes necessary. 



The past season, with drone cell 

 foundation in the center, and worker 

 at the ends of the holders in each 



super, accomplished wonders — even 

 more than was at first expected by its 

 use, namely, the better filling of the 

 supers, together with the superior 

 quality of honey in drone cells. 



In view of having lengthened the 

 brood frames b}' the addition of slats 

 at each end, I concluded to test their 

 utility in that, perhaps, the removal of 

 pollen might be avoided, and swarm- 

 ing restrained until the main flow had 

 passed. Although but little hope for 

 success was entertained, still it was 

 deemed best to make the test, using 

 most of the colonies in the yard. Ac- 

 cording!}', the pollen clogged combs 

 were removed from but a few colonies. 



It also suggested itself to the writer 

 that in connection with the slatted end 

 brood frames, narrower dummies might 

 be used; and, accordingly, one-inch 

 thickness was made for the past sum- 

 mer's use, instead of one-inch and a 

 half, the standard thickness. This 

 change together with allowing the pol- 

 len to clog the brood nest, resulted in 

 ten colonies swarming, out of the 

 thirty. But the test was a necessity in 

 order to prove the value of additional 

 length in the brood frames, which in- 

 cluded the slatted ends and longer 

 dummies. Even if swarming could be 

 prevented without the removal of the 

 excess of pollen; the clogging of the 

 brood area would be a detriment to 

 the colony, and cause it to dwindle, for 

 lack of brood. While I expected re- 

 sults unsatisfactory, I had no means of 

 reaching, short of an experiment in the 

 extreme (as this was), a correct under- 

 standing with positive proof as to the 

 workings of a colony overstocked with 

 pollen. Previous to this season, and 

 since the discovery of pollen being a 

 strong a strong factor in introducing 

 swarming. I have not allowed it to clog 

 the colonies of my yard; hence, the 

 great advance made towards perfecting 

 the non-swarmer. 



Notwithstanding the disturbance 

 caused by this experiment, by which 



