May, 1919 



GliEANTN'GS IN BEE CULTURE 



295 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



built there with greater regularity than 

 those that are i">laced in the brood-nest. I 

 insert these frames between the frames al- 

 ready built out, always taking care to leave 

 one filled frame at each side of the walls of 

 each hive. We use a queen-excluder. 



Ordinarily swarming has not taken place 

 before the beginning of August if every- 

 thing has gone right. During my visits to 

 the hives I always provide room for the 

 queen to lay, by inserting in the brood-nest 

 one or two frames that are very even or uni- 

 form. As my object is to restrain natural 

 swarming, I lift out the combs of brood 

 from hives that are very populous, and dis- 

 tribute them immediately to those colonies 

 that are very weak. 



In order to increase artificially, I make 

 use of two plans. The first one is used 

 when the months of May and June are fa- 

 vorable. About the first of June I put su- 

 pers, with drawn comb, over a few of my 

 best colonies in order that the queens may 

 start brood in the supers. Ten or fifteen 

 days after this, if all goes well, I go to my 

 colony that contains my best breeding queen 

 and take her away, with the frames of seal- 

 ed brood, and with them form a new colony, 

 strengthening it with two other frames of 

 brood. On the eleventh day I visit the 

 hives in which I have been preparing frames 

 of brood, and confine each queen to her 

 lower story, with a queen-excluder; then, 

 from the upper stories, I take from two to 

 four frames of sealed brood, with the ad- 

 hering bees, and put one in each of the emp- 

 ty hives, closing each entrance with a metal 

 grating, and putting these hives on new 

 stands. The same day, or perhaps the day 

 following, I give each one of them a queen- 

 cell from my best colony, or better, a comb 

 on which there is one or more queen-cells, 

 and lo! the swarm is made. The hives from 

 which the frames of brood were taken are 

 filled with frames of foundation and left to 

 secure a crop of honey, which often amounts 

 to 250 or 300 pounds. Two days later, I 

 remove the grating from the entrances of 

 the new swarms and examine them to as- 

 certain if the queen has hatched, and again 

 later to find if she has mated. After the 

 queen commences laying, I fill the hive with 

 frames of foundation, and when all are 

 nearly full, put on my queen-excluder and 

 supers. Some of these artificial colonies 

 give from 50 to 60 pounds of honey. 



My second plan of artificial swarming is 

 still more simple. Towards the end of Aug- 

 ust, at the time of the first frosts, I fill a 

 hive body with choice combs and place it, 

 with a queen-excluder beneath, over one of 

 my strong colonies. The next morning the 

 colony is removed from its stand, and the 

 super only put in its place, moving the 

 brood-chamber to a new location. Two days 

 later the new colony is given a laying queen, 



or a virgin if there are still plenty of drones. 

 After this queen has commenced laying, her 

 colony is strengthened with two frames of 

 sealed brood from the parent stock. These 

 young bees are the hope of the hive for the 

 ensuing spring. This second method is es- 

 pecially advantageous when the weather is 

 cool during May and June, as it does not in- 

 terfere with the honey crop, and the new 

 colony may build up to 12 frames of brood 

 by Aug. 15. The dividing of such colonies, 

 after the honey flow, cannot fail to render 

 wintering easier. That is one of the advan- 

 tages of the 12-frame hive. 



Towards the 15th of September, when the 

 brood is nearly all hatched, I give each hive 

 the stores needed, leaving about 40 pounds 

 of honey in each hive. 



At the time of the heavy frosts, I cover 

 my bees with paper — that is, old newspa- 

 pers; and, at the beginning of November, I 

 generally carry the hives that are on their 

 summer stands to a cellar under the house. 

 Bro. Valentine. 



St. Norbert, Manitoba, Can. 



THOSE PROLIFIC STRAINS 



Not so Good as the Bees That Will Gather Some 

 Honey Even in a Drouth 



In selecting a queen for breeding purposes 

 I prefer a colony that is able to gather hon- 

 ey at times when most other colonies can 

 not. In other words, I am always on the 

 lookout for the colony that excels in a time 

 of comparative dearth. Again, altho I am 

 probably going contrary to the belief of the 

 majority, I do not like an extra-prolific 

 strain of bees. There may be such that are 

 good storers and not given to swarming, but 

 I have not seen such. A moderately prolific 

 strain that will breed well early in the sea- 

 son, with a tendency to slacken somewhat 

 as the flow becomes heavy, is the kind I pre- 

 fer; and if I can not get as large a yield per 

 colony in very good seasons I will keep 

 enough more colonies to make the aggregate 

 crop as much, and, I believe, in certain sea- 

 sons more. My idea of a suitable strain of 

 bees is one which, in a given locality, will, 

 one year after another, give the maximum 

 amount of honey with the minimum expense 

 of labor and feed. Where bees are allowed 

 to breed promiscuously, as in natural swarm- 

 ing, we find all the way from fairly good to 

 almost worthless except in an extra-good lo- 

 cation or in exceptionally good seasons. We 

 find in apiaries of these mongrel bees the 

 yield running from 200 pounds or more, in 

 a favorable season, down to nothing per 

 colony, while in a season rather unfavorable 

 we may find little or no surplus, and most of 

 the colonies in poor condition for winter. 



Now, if we select a strain that will gather 



