(Xtobcr, igo8. 



^[Am(>rican^ac 



un the highest hill in this vicinity, a hill 

 which gets the sweeping winds from Long 

 Island Sound. Before the middle of May this 

 year every one of the colonies with Carniolan 

 blood swarmtd or tried to swarm, though the 

 brood-chambi-r was in no case taKen full pos- 

 session of. Two other colonics, 1 know, (and 

 how many others I do not know) also 

 swarmed. Two months have passt-d since I 

 have visited the apiary and I cannot say what 

 has happened. But this I know, colonies which 

 I should never expect to swarm in the smaller 

 hives did swarm in these large hives. 



"It is thus easy to see that frames can be too 

 large for security against swarming as well 

 as too small. I am not prepared as vet to state 

 just what the proper size is nor whether one 

 size will suit all races of bees. I am inclined 

 to think that for the usual run of Italians 

 eight frames of the i4j^xii size just about 

 fill the bill." 



Concluding he says: "To sum up the pre- 

 ceding paragraph — any size of frame which 

 tends to distort the normal shape of a brood- 

 nest or which tends to unoccupied s^ace below 

 the brood is likely to encourage swarming. 



"It is obvious from what I have outlined 

 above that the Langstroth frame is a swarm- 

 producing frame, and that frames less than 

 10 inches or more than 12 inches in depth are 

 likely to lead to swarming unless preventive 

 measures are taken. My home apiary frame 

 is 10 X 12 inside measure. Only one of the 

 50 regulars swarmed this season, and it has 

 been a bad season for swarming. To be sure, 

 ( had to apply preventive measures in two 

 or three cases. 



"My observations lead me to believe that 

 swarm control can be looked for in the adop- 

 tion of a frame of certain dimensions. Un- 

 less one docs this he must adopt methods in 

 his apiary to meet the swarming fever, methods 

 which mean much labor and frequent loss of 

 swarms, to say nothing of lessened honey- 

 crop. 



"Unless I now offer some reason why a 

 certain size of frame tends to prevent swarm- 

 ine I fear that all which I have written may 

 fail to convince. When a queen reaches the 

 bottom and corners of a brood-frame simul- 

 taneously with the emergence of young bees 

 in the centers of the trames she finds things 

 to her own liking. The workers also are satis- 

 fied, for they will pash right into the store- 

 chamber instead of storing the first honey un- 

 der the brood. With the 14?^ x 11 frame men- 

 tioned above I have repeatedly found the 

 frames solid brood except an inch of honey 

 above. With eight such frames the best 

 queen is satisfied, and the bees once started in 

 the store chamber rarely acquire tne swarmii\g 

 fever.*' 



Modification of Shaken Swarms. 



Time was when tlie average bee- 

 keeper was pleased to have his bees 

 swarm, and it is not so many years 

 since it was held by good authority that 

 best results could be obtained by having 

 each colony send out one, and only one, 

 swarm. Now it is the study of most 

 bee-keepers to limit swarming to the ut- 

 most. One of the ways of doing this is 

 by shaken swarms, but gradually it is 

 getting to be understood that these are 

 not so reliable as at first supposed. F. 

 Greiner has studied out a plan which, 

 although requiring more work than the 

 usual plan, he hopes to be more relia- 

 ble, and that others may try it, he gives 

 it in the American Bee-Keeper. 



Preceding this it is interesting to hear 

 from one of Mr. Greiner's intelligence 

 some of the troubles attendant upon the 

 ordinary shaking of swarms. Although 

 he operates with sectional hives, it is not 

 impossible to use the same plan with 

 other hives. 



After saying that with all the light 

 upon shaking swarme given by Stachel- 

 hausen and others, the practise does not 

 in every case turn out a complete suc- 

 cess, ;Mr. Greiner continues: 



"In particular can we notice a lack of energy 

 in the brushed swarm as compared with tl.e 

 natural swarm. A large share of the brushed 

 swarms, swarm out the next day or on one of 

 the following days. With all clipped qi.e-.ns 

 in the yard I have had a treated colony swarm 



ti... the sixth and s.vcnih day after the mak- 

 ing of the swarm. In some cases the hives 

 were deserted, the bees going to some olht r 

 hive in the apiary and the queens getting lost. 

 By keeping entrance guards on all hives con- 

 taining shaken swarms for one week has proved 

 the most effective with me. liut when '/e take 

 into consideration the loss of time on all the 

 colonies that do not at once adapt :heinselvcs 

 to the new condition we cannot consider the 

 brushed 01 shaken swarm a comwlete success. 



"To he sure that swarms will not be cast 

 we must make a care ful examination of the 

 hives cv:ry sixth day during the swarming 

 period. Looking into the hives from the under 

 side gives lis a viry good idea of what is 

 going on ; but we arc apt to overlook such 

 queen-cells as have only eggs deposited in 

 them, even if we discover such as contain lar- 

 vx. Often we find the lower edges of combs 

 laced with embryo cells, which in its.lf is not 

 a sure indication that swarming will occur. 

 Many a colony starts there and never goes 

 further. I have many such now nicely at 

 work in the sections with all swarming tend- 

 encies died away (this is July 12), and even 

 the embryo cells or cell-cups are removed. 

 These colonies may be regarded as safe for 

 the rest of the season; they need no more 

 attention except providing room. 



"If by some management all colonies could 

 be induced to act likewise, the problem would 

 be solved. Colonies headed by old queens 

 give us the most trouble both as to contract- 

 ing the swarm fever and swarming out after 

 brushed swarms are made. This is a fact 

 worth remembering. 



"A brood-comb left in the hive or given to 

 the brushed swarm is productive of swarming 

 out and swarming from 12 to 15 days later. 

 Contracting the hive unduly produces swarming 

 out. Giving frames filled with comb founda- 

 tion seems with me the best and surest way 

 to hold the bees contentedly, and I have decided 

 always to use full sheets of foundation here- 

 after in the brood-chamber. For immediate re- 

 sults, hiving young swarms on frames with 

 starters is the best here, but in the long run 

 we obtain better results and save labor by 

 using the artificial midrib. 



"I would rather have comb foundation than 

 fully built-out combs. The drawing out of 

 the embryo cells of the foundation has a bene- 

 ficial influence upon our colony and excites to 

 greater action. It is probably due to this, that 

 the plan which I have worked out this season 

 has worked so well with me so far. This plan 

 has also in its favor that every colony of normal 

 or average strength may be handled accord- 

 ing to it with the" same good result and with 

 no risk to run of producing swarming out or 

 swarming. I have so far practised it only with 

 a sectional Hand hive and it is only a modified 

 shaking or brushing plan, but not all combs 

 being brushed at the same time. Two different 

 operations are necessary to finish the job. If 

 a colony occupies two sections then I split 

 the brood-chamber horizontally about the time 

 when swarming naturally begins and place a 

 third section between. After a week I remove 

 the upper one and insert another section su- 

 per — the first one having been given previously. 

 The third week the lower section of the brood- 

 chamber is removed and replaced by one filled 

 with sheets of foundation. Thus all brood is 

 removed in course of two weeks. It was done 

 so gradually that the colonies did not become 

 discontented as seems to be tue case under 

 the regular, but rather heroic treatment, I had 

 practised before. These colonies are surprising 

 me by the manner of their filling supers. 



"The plan may be altered according to sea- 

 sons and varying conditions. For example, 

 when I found that after giving the first section 

 and after removing the first upper half of the 

 original hive full of brood and honey, that 

 no preparations for swarming were made in 

 any way. not even embryo queen-cells being 

 started, I left a few hives in just that shape, 

 not removing the second half of the original 

 brood-chamber nor increasing its size, yet no 

 swarming has resulted and the work in the 

 section supers is going on very nicely. How- 

 ever, I have not tested this plan long enough 

 nor with enough colonies to prove its working 

 in different seasons and under different condi- 

 tions, and I give it for what it is worth, 

 hoping others will help test it and possibly 

 work out a system of management that will 

 simplify the work and be a help to the fra- 

 ternity." 



Three Hundred Billion Bees at Work 



That is the striking title of an illus- 

 trated article in Technical World Maga- 



zine, wriiiun ijy Roy Crandall. On the 

 authority of Dr. Phillips he gives 300,- 

 000,000,000 as the numl)er of bees in the 

 country, and after comparing ihe honey 

 crop with some other crops, lie says: 



"It will thus be seen that in one year the 

 bee-hives sent to market a product worth nearly 

 as much as the barley crop; three times as 

 much as the buckwheat crop; $6,000,000 great- 

 er than the rye crop, ana nLarly $9,000,000 

 greater than the rice crop. All of the rice 

 and buckwheat grown on an aggregated area of 

 2,126 1-3 square miles did not reach the value 

 of the honey by $151,259," 



Speaking of appreciating the great 

 number of insects at work, he says: 



"That is rather difficult, for three hundred 

 billion stretches a long way beyond intelligent 

 human comprehension. The human mind 

 doesn't work well m anything mathematically 

 greater than thousands. 



"ft is said that some bank tellers become so 

 expert that they can count 200 coins a minute. 

 If the most expert of all were started at the 

 task of counting as many coins as there are 

 bees in the hives, he could finish the task in 

 2,854 years; provided, of course, that he didn't 

 become either hungry or sleepy, for that 200-a- 

 minute pace would have to be maintained every 

 minute of the day and night." 



Although Mr. Crandall is an excelletit 

 writer, the article hardly bears testi- 

 mony that he has spent many years 

 in the apiary and become very familiar 

 with bee-literature. He speaks of the 

 worker as "he." He says that when 

 the famine periods come the drone is 

 set upon by the workers, stung to death, 

 and his" body kicked out of the hive. 

 What proportion of the drones in a 

 colony has any bee-keeper seen actually 

 stung to death ? 



Some queens have been known to lay 

 4,000 eggs a day for a year; and a bat- 

 tle among bees is described as "oc- 

 curring "every now and then," such as 

 not many bee-keepers have seen in a 

 lifetime. A whole colony will sud- 

 denly decide "to loot the hive of an 

 adjacent race." The fearful battle is 

 vividly described, 50,000 on a side, and 

 the writer gives a decidedly original 

 touch by saying that when the robbers 

 come off victorious there is sure to be 

 a fight among themselves for the loot, 

 until the survivors are "so few in num- 

 ber that their per capita supply of the 

 captured honey is far more than the> 

 can consume." 



In spite of these drawbacks, such an 

 article, in a magazine so nicely gotten 

 up, will help to make the public more 

 interested in bees and their product. 



Books for Bee-Keepers 



Every bee-keeper should have a bee- 

 book besides a bee-paper. On another 

 page will be found ail the best books 

 offered— either at a price, postpaid, or as 

 a premium. H you can not earn them 

 as premiums for getting new subscrip- 

 tions, it will pay you well to pvirchase 

 one or more of them. You will find 

 them of great value. There are so many 

 things in the books that are needful to 

 know, and that of course could not be 

 ^old over and over again in the bee- 

 papers. Ha bee-keeper can afford only 

 one, it would better be the book rath- 

 er than the paper. But now that the 

 American Bee Journal is only 75 cent^ 

 a year, of course, no bee-keeper, how- 

 ever limited his apiary may be, can af- 

 ford to be without its monthly visits. 



