Hvj 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



instead of going home; but she seems to make a 

 success of it. Shaking the bees in witli the prime 

 swarm every day or two is highly recommended. I 

 have not tried it. It looks to me just like provok- 

 ing the colonies from which your surplus must 

 come, into a new series of swarms, and incurring at 

 the same time a risk of making them queenless. In 

 general, the man who says he can control the 

 swarming fever never had a case of it on his hands 

 —that's the long and the short of it. A dozen or 

 even twenty prime swarms coming out in one hour 

 is not swarm-fever. The colonies were all in good 

 condition, and a freak of the weather brought them 

 out all at once, that's all. A troublesome plenty 

 of after-swarms, if they come in regular time (nine 

 days after the first) is not exactly the disease either. 

 In swarm-fever, swarms come out 14, 15, 10, and 17 

 days alter the primes, showing that, in the first in- 

 stance, the swarm came out with no preparation 

 whatever. Young primes which have not jet 

 built their quarters nearly full of comb begin a 

 new series of swarms. Dividing is worse than use- 

 less. Each fragment sends out swarms; and the 

 total of swarms is increased, and you have the di- 

 vision colonies in addition. This is the disease we 

 invite you to cure, brethren; and hence these 

 tears. E. E. Hasty. 



Removing all the queen-cells but one 

 seems to be pretty generally accepted ; but 

 I should like to know how many of those 

 who quote the above for an answer practice 

 it regularly. I prefer the plan given by 

 friend Green. But this does not always 

 work. I expected friend Hasty was going 

 to recommend burying the bees in the 

 ground until they behaved themselves, as a 

 remedy for all swarming troubles ; but it 

 seems that even the underground treatment 

 does not always answer. 



(,)ikstion 12!» — 7 have a colony which has a young 

 queen at liberty, and secern I more in their ceils; and if 

 in! undisturbed it will send out a swarm to-morrow. 

 H to-day Iliberate all the queens from their cells, lenv- 

 ini.i two or more at large in the liivc, but no queen i)i a 

 cell, will the swarm issue? 



As the Spaniard says, " No Be." 



R. Wilkin. 



Not as a rule; but they should be watched. 



L. C. Root. 



Not generally. They will kill each other, and one 

 will remain. P. L. Viallon. 



I am inclined to think they will not, but I have 

 no positive knowledge. C. C. Miller. 



Probably not; there will be a battle, and the vic- 

 tor will likely bold the Held. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Sometimes, but not as a general rule. I once bad 

 a swarm under precisely these conditions. 



G. M- Doolittle. 



We think that bees will manage to keep two 

 queens, and swarm with one and sometimes with 

 both. Dadant & Son. 



Perhaps not, and yet it would not surprise me at 

 all if they swarmed immediately, if it was a very 

 favorable time for swarming. H. R. IJoardman. 



1 have never tried the experiment, so 1 can not 

 say; but I wish the querist would do so and report; 

 that is, report after trying the experiment several 

 times, as once doinjr so will prove nothing. 



Oi 0. Poppleton. 



It is very uncertain just what they would do; but 

 if I did not want them to swarm, I would take the 

 queens away in place of liberating them. 



E. Prance. 



I don't know; but I think if that is the only con- 

 dition existing that might be considered favorable 

 to swarming, the swarm would not issue. 



A. B. Mason. 



It may issue at any time, and it may not. If the 

 latter is the case, then all but one of the young 

 queens have disappeared a few days afterward. 



Chas. F. Muth. 



I never tried this; but I think if the swarming- 

 fever were prevalent among the bees they would 

 swarm anyhow. There would be no certainty 

 about it. James A. Green. 



Yes, as a rule, supposing that in your climate or 

 locality it is swarming time, and conditions for 

 such are favorable; otherwise the surplus of 

 queens will be killed off. James Heddon. 



Not today, Feb. 12. I don't know what they 

 would do at the swarming season, but I think they 

 would swarm the same. With the swarming-fever 

 aroused they will swarm out with one young queen. 



P. H. Elwood. 



I think usually it would. Indeed,! have known 

 several queens to come out of cells, hours before 

 the swarm issued. The young queens do not always 

 wait for the swarm to start before they issue from 

 the cells. A. J. Cook. 



If the colony is strong, and honey-tiow and weath- 

 er fair, yes; if the colony is weak, then no. If the 

 colony is strong, the bees will not allow all the 

 young queens to meet any more than they would 

 allow the hatched queen to destroy those in the 

 cells, for the reason, I take it, that they desire to 

 swarm— another illustration that the impulse to 

 swarm comes from the bees. Geo. Grimm. 



This scheme is interesting enough to deserve 

 trial, both in moderately swarming and immoder- 

 ately swarming apiaries. I will venture the opinion, 

 that in the former it will usually succeed, while in 

 the latter the swarm will often issue and leave a 

 little queenless remnant in the old hive. Likewise 

 I should not be surprised to see the whole batch 

 turn up queenless sometimes. This plan seems to 

 have one of the objections to the old cutting-out- 

 all-but-oue method (which is generally abandoned I 

 believe); namely, serious liability to overlook one. 



E. E. Hasty. 



If I understand the above question, the 

 point is, Does it change matters particularly 

 one way or the other, if you open the cells 

 with the point of your knife, or let them 

 hatch after their own fashion? From what 

 experience I have had with this kind of 

 work, I should say that it would not make 

 much difference. If the queens were let 

 out of their cells before they were ready, 

 the bees would probably tumble them out of 

 their hives as so much rubbish— that is, if, 

 they noticed them at all. If they let them 

 remain, when they have accumulated 

 strength by taking sufficient honey and ex- 

 ercise they would swarm or not swarm-, ac- 

 cording to the flow of honey, number of bees, 

 state of weather, etc. I once took a swarm 

 of hybrids out of a bee-tree that seemed to 

 have queens scattered all through the colo- 



