198 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



of foundation, put a queen excluder between the two 

 stories, and leave the queen in the lower story. Then 

 as the brood hatches out in the second story the combs 

 will be filled with honey and become extracting-combs. 



SHAKEN SWARM WITHOUT INCREASE. 



Another plan that I would enjoy trying if I were 

 running for extracted honey is one variation of forced 

 or shaken swarms. It is the simple plan of making 

 a shaken swarm, say from A, and then piling all the 

 brood from A on another strong colony, B. European 

 bee-keepers tell us that with this accession of brood B 

 will not swarm. S. Simmins, of England, and some 

 others, give A half the bees from B. A would be all 

 right for comb honey, but B would not — at least not 

 right away — but it would be all right for extracted honey. 



ACCIDENTAL SWARMS. 



The best I can do there will sometimes be what 

 might be called accidental swarms. Perhaps a strong 

 colony has in some way lost its queen in the busy season, 

 and when the first reared young queen emerges — if one 

 is allowed to emerge — there will surely be a swarm is- 

 sue. Generally such a thing will be headed oflf before 

 the young queen has a chance to emerge, but once in a 

 great while she gets ahead of me. 



Although there is to me nothing entrancing in the 

 sight of such a swarm whirling through the air, there is 

 one thing I do very much enjoy in it — it is the sight of 

 the seething mass hurrying into the hive when dumped in 

 front of it, as in Fig. 69. You will see that a deep bot- 

 tom-board has been placed in front of Xo. 32. on which 

 the swarm was dumped (it had previously settled on a 

 low plum tree), and the bees have flowed all over the 

 sides of the bottom-board, and also over the front of the 

 hive. But I don't want the distress of seeing them pour- 



