THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



121 



would prefer the plan given in Gleanings 

 by J. L, Byer. of Canada. It is as 

 follows: 



At this season of the year, naturally 

 some of the many plans for saving very 

 weak colonies are sure to be tried by 

 beginners and others. 1 have generally 

 been fortunate in not having many of 

 these weaklings; but on some occasions 1 

 have tried some of the plans advocated, 

 generally, with but indifferent results, to 

 say the least. For the past four or five 

 years 1 have been using a very simple 

 plan, when there was any occasion for 

 saving a weak nucleus, that is so safe 

 and absolutely sure that I give it here in 

 hopes that some one may be benefited. 



Find the queen of a very strong colony 

 and set the comb aside with Her Majesty. 

 Then carry over some of the remaining 

 frames with adhering bees, and shake 

 before the weak nucleus that it is desired 

 to save, having at first provided a runway 

 for the bees to crawl into the hive. The 

 old bees fly back to the old stand, and 

 the young ones go into the weak colony, 

 giving the best kind of help that it is 

 possible to get. More than one colony 

 can be drawn from if necessary, and it 

 is surprising to note the difference in the 

 weaklings in a few days' time— no brood 

 chilled, no queens lost, no fighting, in fact, 

 no trouble of any kind, and you are ab- 

 solutely sure of the plan being a success 

 every time. One time 1 went to an out- 

 apiary about the first of May, and in 

 looking over the yard 1 found a small 

 nucleus with a queen bought the fall 

 before. They were just as nearly gone 

 as could be. without being "gone" alto- 

 gether—probably not more than 50 bees 

 left, and the queen was found crawling 

 off at one side of the combs alone. A 

 number of young bees were shaken in 

 front of the hive as described, with some 

 misgivings as to the result; but when, 

 two weeks later, 1 came back, I could 

 hardly believe the change that had taken 

 place. If you have any weak colonies, 

 tr/ this plan and see if it is not a good 

 thing for the purpose intended. 



If a weak nucleus contains a valuable 

 queen, it is probably worthwhile to resort 

 to some such method to save the queen. 

 Possibly ordinary queens are worth the 

 cost of saving them in this way, in order 

 that they may be on hand for use early in 

 the season; but I have seriously questioned 

 if the drawing on a populous colony to 

 save a weakling was a profitable thing 

 to do. 



PRLVLNTION OF SWARMING. 



A Radical Cure for the Swarming Habit 

 of Bees. 



The February Review described the 

 Jones method of preventing swarming; 

 the March issue told how the Doctor 

 came to make the discovery; and the 

 final chapter that is now to follow, tells 

 of his experience with the method. 



(Copyrighted) 



Returning again to the season of 1909, 

 having settled upon a routine of treat- 

 ment to be carried out, will state that I 

 began the season with fifty-four colonies 

 in ten-frame Dovetailed hives with Hoff- 

 man frames. Ten colonies were Italians 

 and the rest were hybrids— the apiary 

 being located upon the back part of two 

 village lots. Owing to a cold, late spring 

 they built up slowly in the early part of 

 the season. The weather being more 

 favorable from May 15th to June 15th, 

 they built up rapidly and were in good 

 condition for the honey flow from white 

 clover that began about that time and 

 was at its best from June 20th to July 

 5th. when a severe drouth began to 

 make itself felt. Seventeen colonies 

 were worked for comb honey and the 

 remaining thirty-seven for extracted. 

 From June 26th to July 12th the swarm- 

 ing season was on in earnest, the most of 

 them preparing to swarm out within ten 

 days after June 26th. Of the seventeen 

 colonies worked for comb honey, twelve 

 of them built queen cells and were given 

 the treatment, one of them beingoperated 

 upon after it had started to swarm out, 

 an account of which will be given later. 

 Getting behind with my work, two 

 colonies were given the treatment before 

 making swarm preparations as they 

 were very populous and the treatment 

 was given as a preventative. Only one 

 comb honey colony made swarming 

 preparations after the treatment was 

 given. That colony had a poor lot of 

 brood combs, quite a large percentage of 

 drone comb, and some of the remaining 

 combs badly clogged with old pollen, 

 which the bees were trying to chew up 

 and carry out. They seemed to be 

 hampered for room to establish a normal 

 sized brood nest. It was given the 

 second treatment nine days after the 

 first one. None of the fourteen colonies 



