180 



FIFTY YEARS A^IOXG THE BEES 



I believe that the advantages of no swarming whatever 

 over forced swarming are as great as the advantages of 

 forced over natural swarming. 



So you will hardly blame me if instead of resting con- 

 tent wath forced swarming I continue to pursue that will- 

 o-the wisp — in the opinion of many 



P^g- 57 — Folding Sections. 



KEEPING COLONIES OUEENLESS. 



The next season after practicing the removal of two 

 frames of brood, I settled upon a plan which I felt pretty 

 sure would prevent the possibility of swarming. It was a 

 no less radical measure than to keep the colony queenless. 

 I reasoned that as I had never had a queen hatched inside 

 of eleven days from the time the queen was taken away, 

 or from the time the bees started queen-cells, the colony 

 was safe from sw^arming if once in ten days I took aw^ay 

 their brood and gave them fresh ; also, that it was only 

 bees over two weeks old that worked in the field ; add to 

 this the three weeks that it took from the tgg to the full- 

 fledged worker, and it was five weeks or more from the 



