KEEPING TOO MANY BEES 75 



sure that our queen had made no mesalliance we 

 were entirely content. 



Our lack of success in preventing swarming when 

 trying to produce comb-honey was a source of great 

 chagrin to us until we read that so eminent a bee- 

 keeper as Mr. Hutchinson declared that *' there is 

 no way of preventing first swarms profitable to the 

 comb-honey producer," and then our feelings were 

 salved. The following are in brief a few of the 

 more successful ways practised to prevent increase: 



By clipping the queen's wings. — Almost all bee- 

 keepers practise this now, whatever their method of 

 preventing increase or securing it. A queen with 

 clipped wings is necessarily a "stay-at-home body," 

 and the swarm will not leave without her. However, 

 when depending upon this method it is very important 

 to guard against the hatching of new queens, and 

 this can only be done by closely scrutinising the brood- 

 comb to discover and destroy the queen cells. The 

 brood-frames should be examined in each hive about 

 once a week during the months of June and July, if 

 this method is to succeed. Many a time have we sat 

 smilingly by and watched a swarm come out of the 

 hive with great pomp and circumstance, only to sneak 

 back when it was discovered that her majesty was 

 unfit for travel. 



By the use of a queen-trap. — This is a device used 

 by some instead of clipping the wings of the queen. 

 It is a box of perforated zinc placed over the entrance 

 of the hive, the slots in it large enough to allow the 

 workers to pass in and out, and small enough to hold 



