1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



809 



quite likely to fill most of the cells with 

 eggs, when in a few days another comb is 

 treated the same way, and put in the cen- 

 ter, when the queen will lay in empty cells. 

 We can thus get the queen to keep gradu- 

 ally on the up g-rade so far as egg--laying- 

 is concerned, and brood rig^ht under the 

 top-bars, and the bees will rush for the su- 

 pers when the white flow comes. The ver}' 

 meanest colon}^ to g-et into the supers is the 

 one with an inch or so of sealed honey un- 

 der the top-bars, and the time to cure that 

 is during- fruit-bloom as above. 

 Franklinville, N. Y., Aug-. 20. 



BRUSHED SWARMS BEST FOR COMB HONEY. 



Mr. Root: — You ask for reports from any 

 of us who have had experience with the 

 shallow hive and brushed swarms. I have 

 used that method for some years, and con- 

 sider it the very best for comb honey. My 

 practice is to winter all colonies in double- 

 brood-chamber hives, and, as soon as spring 

 comes, give room for breeding- purposes by 

 adding additional shallow hives as long as 

 the bees seem capable of greater develop- 

 ment, when they can no longer increase. I 

 brush all the force into a shallow hive plac- 

 ed on the ol(j stand, setting the old stock a 

 little to one side on the swarm. I put two 

 supers of prepared sections, full sheets of 

 foundation, every seven days. I run the 

 young bees from the old stock into the brush- 

 ed swarm until the close of the honey-flow. 

 After that I have a long slow flow, and I 

 place the several shallow hives together and 

 work them for extracted honey until Au- 

 gust, when sumac comes in bloom. I then 

 proceed the same as in the spring. At 

 last, when winter comes, I fumigate with 

 carbon bisulphide and store away until 

 spring. 



By this method I have secured over 100 

 pounds of fine comb honey per colony, be- 

 sides from 50 to 60 of extracted. The bees 

 never fail to enter the super at once, and in 

 full force, thereby securing rapid work, 

 which is always a requisite to the produc- 

 tion of fine comb honey. 



In answer to W. T. Gary, pag-e698, I can 

 say bees often ball a young queen when dis- 

 turbed. Anger at being worked is the prime 

 cause. Virgins are balled when another 

 queen is nosing around the hive, which they 

 often do when undecided which hive to en- 

 ter. I have often seen them balled thus, so 

 with me it is no guesswork. 



My crop is 7000 pounds from 90 old colo- 

 nies; increase, 100. I am now running 220 

 colonies, but prospects are gloomy for any 

 fall honey except honey-dew from plant lice 

 working on the pecan-tree. This is a red- 

 dish honey, and granulates ver}^ quickly. 



Vigo, Tex., Aug. 31. J. E. Chambers. 



plan for several years, more or less. What 

 made me take up that plan at first was 

 that swarms would bother me by coming 

 out and going back sometimes several times, 

 so I commenced to use the brushing and 

 shaking process (no jouncing), similar to 

 the Danzenbaker plan. I would move and 

 leave the old brood with enough bees to 

 care for and protect it for five or six days, 

 then brush every last bee in front of the 

 new swarm with one of my double-brushes, 

 set the brood in an empty brood-chamber 

 near by with a cloth over it until the job 

 was finished, then I would take the beeless 

 brood and set it over or under a weak colo- 

 ny according to conditions, and I did the 

 same way with the colonies that were ready 

 to swarm, always piling- the beeless brood 

 story after story until I had what I called 

 "towers" scattered over the apiary as 

 high as I dare pile them. I was very par- 

 ticular to have the bottom hive solid and 

 plumb, then pile up until I could reach no 

 more up. They being so heavy they ap- 

 peared to sit as solid as a brick chimney. 

 Then I would start another, and so on. If 

 I had no more weak colonies I would bor- 

 row one from one of the towers. I had no 

 set rules, but just worked the towers ac- 

 cording to circumstances, such as the time 

 of season, the kind of flow, etc. I always 

 condensed the whole lot of one tower down 

 into one or two brood-chambers when ready, 

 and placed sections on. You may be sure 

 some of them were monster colonies, and I 

 think they invariably wintered well and 

 gave a good surplus next season. I never 

 fed any sugar nor any thing else (was 

 prejudiced against feeding), and I never 

 had a failure — that is, I always had a me- 

 dium crop when even the best apiarists 

 around had failures. Perhaps the locality 

 did it. We have had many a good laugh 

 at remarks made by passers-by when they 

 spied the towers. Well, now, I will say 

 that I consider the brushed-swarm plan 

 has doubled our crop of honey under certain 

 conditions some seasons, letting alone the 

 easy way of controlling swarming to a 

 great extent. I did not work the plan on 

 all my bees — only a part of them; the rest 

 were allowed to swarm once, then were 

 treated the same as the others. 



Bertha, O. John Hammond. 



BRUSHED-SWARM PLAN DOUBLES THE CROP. 



Mr. Root: — As you ask in Gleanings for 

 what we know about brushed swarms I 

 will tell you a little. I have practiced tlie 



"brushed" or "shook" swarms. 

 During past years I have many times 

 brushed and "shook" swarms, but sup- 

 posed it was a practice that was well 

 known to all bee-keepers of experience. As 

 my apiaries are always run for both comb 

 and extracted hone3% I reserve the weaker 

 colonies for the production of extracted, as 

 only good strong ones are of any use in 

 making straight combs and well-filled sec- 

 tions. Often when I notice a comb-honey 

 colony preparing to swarm (starting cells, 

 etc.), I take away the brood, brushing and 

 shaking the bees from the combs. These 

 combs of brood are then used to strengthen 



