June, 1916. 



Amarican Hee Journal t 



found guilty. Improper care of prun- 

 ing tools may also be responsible for 

 its spread. 



These results tend to show that en- 

 tirely too much blame has been hith- 

 erto attached to the honeybee as an 

 agent for spreading blight. The honey- 

 bee visited orchards which had been 

 freed from aphids as well as those 

 which had not, yet blight was found 

 only in the portions infested with 

 aphids. Further experiments are be- 

 ing carried on by the Entomology De- 

 partment of the Kansas Agricultural 

 Experiment Station to secure addi- 

 tional data on this subject. 



Manhattan, Kan. 



Hives and Swarms 



BY TARLTON RAYMENT. 



WITH the advent of spring the ques- 

 tion of swarm control crops up 

 with regularity; that the subject 

 is still as fresh as the vernal greenness 

 may be gauged from the prominence 

 given to recent discussions. With your 

 permission, Mr. Editor, and with all 

 due apologies to those writers whose 

 schemes we have unintentionally plagi- 

 arised, Iwe shall endeavor to detail our 

 treatment of colonies that insist on 

 swarming. 



Like many American apiarists, we 

 have a predilection for the dimensions 

 of the 8-frame hive, and time was when 

 we experimented with the Heddon — or 

 Bolton pattern, as it is known in Aus- 

 tralia, but they are synonymous — also 

 larger sizes of Langstroth hive. Expe- 

 rience, however, sent us back to our 

 first love. 



It is generally conceded by beekeep- 

 ers of extended experience, that the 

 swarming problem is greater with the 

 8-frame than with any other standard 

 hive, yet we have found no material 

 difference in the bees' behavior due to 

 the house they live in. We have no set 

 rule nor limit to the number of bodies 

 and combs each colony shall occupy. 

 It not infrequently happens, during a 

 flow, that the colonies of an entire 

 yard tenant hives of four stories ; two 

 bodies each containing 8 frames for 

 brood, while the remaining couple 

 have 7 frames each for supers. The 

 bees actually use 30 frames. The use 

 of supers even on the 10-frame size is 

 universal. What, then, constitutes a 

 large hive ? 



The whole subject of swarm control 

 hinges mainly on the management of 

 the apiarist, while the hive pattern is 

 but a minor factor, bearing in mind, of 

 course, our refusal to be tied down to 

 any specific number of frames. Since 

 the queen may utilize 16 or more frames 

 for brood and eggs, there is little or no 

 use for queen-excluders frior to the 

 issue of the swarm. 



It may be objected that brood in the 

 honey frames is very inconvenient 

 when extracting. In theory that is so ; 

 in practice, however, no difficulty pre- 

 sents itself with our system of work- 

 ing. The size of the hive, and the 

 large number of frames constitute such 

 an elaslic whole, that we are never 

 forced to extract from combs contain- 

 ing brood; they are simply moved to 

 the sides of the super. On the next 

 visit they are free from brood and full 



of honey. Towards the termination of 

 the honey season the super space is 

 gradually withdrawn so that all incom- 

 ing honey is stored — natually, since it 

 is the top of the hive — in the second 

 brood-chamber as fast as the young 

 bees emerge from the cells. This effec- 

 tually precludes the future use of the 

 combs for brood purposes. When 

 severe winter threatens, what a mighty 

 population is crammed into one story 

 when the second brood-chamber is 

 removed! Sometimes the bees cannot 

 all get inside. In mild seasons, the 

 brood-nest is placed over the body of 

 empty combs and left to winter in that 

 position. 



Using the 8-frame bodies in the man- 

 ner described reduces the swarming 

 difficulties to the minimum, while in 

 our every day work we have proved, to 

 our satisfaction at least, that no frame 

 or other hive stands out preeminently 



as a regulator of the colonizing in- 

 stinct. Management is the paramount 

 influence. 



With our system, which entails the 

 clipping of all queens' wings, we await, 

 free from all misgivings, the advent of 

 the big swarms from the 4-story hives. 

 When the expected happens, the par- 

 ent hive is removed to one side, tem- 

 porarily, while the swarm is provided 

 with two bodies of dry comb. A queen- 

 excluder covers 'the top. The two 

 brood-chambers of the original stock 

 are then carefully overhauled and all 

 frames showing well developed queen- 

 cells are grouped together in one body. 

 The cell-less frames are placed over 

 the excluder and the body containing 

 the queencells completes the pile. 

 Being on top the queencells are readily 

 accessible, and needless to remark 

 those completed in this manner cannot 

 be surpassed. When all brood in the 

 top stories has emerged and the ripe 

 cells are disposed of the excluder is 

 removed. 



Should increase be desired the sur- 

 plus brood-combs with ripe cells at- 



tached may profitably be divided into 

 nuclei. There is no loss of brood, as 

 it cannot get chilled nor does it starve 

 owing to a dearth of nurses ; while the 

 young bees seldom, if ever, desert the 

 new stand. The supers from the par- 

 ent colony may be extracted or used 

 to entice other colonies to work "up- 

 stairs." 



The practices here described are not 

 put forth as original, but the plans out- 

 lined are practical, and, with us at least, 

 have provided a constant and reliable 

 method of handling bees when the ob- 

 jective is a crop of honey with its 

 natural corollary, hard cash. We have 

 endeavored to illustrate the position 

 and arrangement of the combs in the 

 accompanying drawing. 



N. B.— Should queencells be per- 

 mitted to remain in the super contigu- 

 ous to the queen, the intention will be 

 defeated by the reissue of the swarm. 

 The provision whereby the queen is 

 kept at a distance from the cells is a 

 vital portion of the scheme. 



Gippsland, Australia. 



Honey at the Panama Pacific 

 Exposition 



BY CHARLES DUFF STUART. 



A CANVASS of the Panama Pacific 

 International Exposition exhibits 

 on Sept. 23, 1915, revealed some 

 curious phases and facts concerning 

 honey-growing in the United States 

 as well as in foreign countries. 



Of the 26 State buildings visited, only 

 one, California, exhibited honey, and 

 few exhibited other food products in 

 their State buildings. Eight of these 

 States, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Mary- 

 land, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Okla- 

 homa and Pennsylvania had no exhib- 

 its of honey, and manifested no interest 

 in its production; while other States 

 that produce honey extensively appar- 

 ently did. not consider the occupation 

 seriously. Especially is this attitude 

 true of Indiana and Texas. 



The manager of the Indiana Building 

 somewhat reluctantly explained that 

 his State was giving very little official 

 attention to the honey industry, prob- 

 ably for two reasons, because there 

 were such quantities of wild honey, 

 and because other pursuits were more 

 profitable to the farmers. This gentle- 

 man had specialized in animal hus- 

 bandry, yet the housing of the bee had 

 never been considered by him, although 

 Indiana is rich in bee-pasturage. Un- 

 der propitious natural conditions it did 

 seem a bit strenuous to set up an apiary 

 when, according to our informant, one 

 could go out and gather honey by the 

 pound from a hollow tree in the back 

 lot somewhere. 



Texas, although second only to Cali- 

 fornia as a producer of honey, made no 

 exhibit at the Exposition, and had no 

 literature on the subject. However, a 

 delightful old Texas Colonel unoffi- 

 cially came to the rescue of the 

 Lone Star State and assured us that 

 honey-growing is one of its commer- 

 cial industries; that from Beeville 

 alone $1,000,000 worth was shipped in 

 1914; that the apiaries are all large, 

 containing from 250 to 1200 colonies 

 each ; that the State annually appro- 



