THE BBE-KEBPERS' REVIEW 



379 



'ON SWARMING HIVES, AND 

 WHAT CAN BHDONE WITH 



2^ \X Tni:;.M. improvements 

 IN stock, dv l. a. aspin- 



WALL. 



Friend Hutchinson — Nearly a year 

 has elapsed since writing for the Re- 

 view. My reti- 

 cence is wholl}^ 

 chie to an uniirec- 

 edented amount 

 of inventive 

 work for the As- 

 ;jinwrill company. 

 Considering the 

 ibsence of any 

 contributions dur- 

 ing this long per- 

 iod, perhaps a 

 summary of my 

 bee-keeping for a year may be i nteresting. 

 Knowing, as you do, my method of 

 wintering bees upon their summer stands, 

 and without the loss of a single colony 

 since its adoption, which has been seven 

 years, I will simply say that their condi- 

 tion each spring has been beyond com- 

 parison. 



I began the season of rgoo with 48 col- 

 onies, two of which were queenless. 

 With non-swarming hives (of whicli I 

 shall presently speak) all queenless col- 

 onies in the spring are left until the lat- 

 ter part of May, at which time I insert 

 dummy combs between the natural 

 combs of my strongest colonies to pre- 

 vent the tendency of swarming. Many 

 of them will have a comb of brood in ex- 

 cess of the room :^fter alternating them 

 Avith dummies. These are used to build 

 up all queenless colonies, which become 

 fairly strong in two or three weeks. It 

 is my practice to furnish them with a 

 comb containing eggs and larvae from 

 selected stock, after <lestroying the first 

 lot of queen cells. By this plan I secure 

 for them gooil queens, although not 

 equil to those reared under the swarming 

 impalse or sup^rse lure. However, for 

 me, this i« the most practical njetl^gd of 



treating colonies which have become 

 queenless during winter. 



In speaking of non-swarming hives you 

 will doubtless wonder as to their success. 

 In my writings for the Review I once 

 said "the unexpected usually happens" 

 with successful inventions. That is, we 

 get more than was first anticipated. But 

 you may ask, what can it be more than 

 the prevention of swarming? The per- 

 fection of the principle is such, in its 

 present c;>nstruction, that in the event of 

 superse.lure, no swarms will be forthcom- 

 ing. Furthermore, with no dummies in- 

 troduced, and the colony allowed to 

 swarm, a removal of the queen cells, and 

 introduction of the dummies previous to 

 returning the swarm, will completely 

 overcome the impulse. It is interesting 

 to note that many of the workers will 

 mark the location, as in the in.stance of 

 a newly hived swarm, and work with re- 

 newed energy. 



A third point of excellence is, that the 

 queen is never crowded into the sections. 

 No queen excluding zinc is used in my 

 apiar}'. 



There is one point more which I will 

 emphasize as being decideW unexpected; 

 viz., the improvement ot bees through 

 non-swarming hives. This subject I 

 treateil in my article for the Review last 

 February, but without any knowledge of 

 what the non swarmer has apparently 

 been doing for me. By reference to the 

 Review, of July 1897, you will note an 

 article, headed "The will of the workers." 

 I refer to this simply to add that the de- 

 velopment of queens is also by the will of 

 the workers. (Jueens reared under the 

 swarming impulse are most assuredly 

 such; while artificially reared ones, are, 

 more or less, by a forced will, and some- 

 what inferior. 



Now, in the matter of non-swarmers, 

 the queen's powers are taxed rather more 

 in pdising from cjaib to comb by reason 

 of the dummies, than where the combs 

 are adjacent to each other. .Vs a result, 

 supersedure usually takes place a little 

 sooner than under the normal conditions 



