FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 2b5 



brood, some of it just emerging, and then closing the 

 hive bee-tight put it where there is no danger of the 

 brood being chilled. One way to do this is to put it over 

 a strong colony, wire-cloth preventing the passage of the 

 bees from one hive to the other. At the end of five days 

 the hive can be set on its own stand, and these five-day- 

 old bees, under the stress of necessity, will soon be seen 

 carrying in pollen. 



ARTIFICIAL INCREASE. 



Fighting so bitterly against all increase by swarm- 

 ing, I would run out of bees entirely if I did not resort 

 to artificial increase. Without pretending to give all 

 the ways by which increase has been made, I may tell 

 just a little about it. 



One can make increase by drawing brood or bees, or 

 both, from colonies that are working for honey, and 

 thus keep all the old colonies storing, and at the same 

 time make the desired increase. In that way the largest 

 number of colonies possible are kept at work on the 

 harvest, and one might have a feeling that all the in- 

 crease was clear gain. But the feeling is a delusive one. 

 It is not the number of colonies at work storing, but the 

 number of bees, that count. And 60,000 bees in one hive 

 will store more honey than will the same number of bees 

 equally divided in two hives. So in planning for in- 

 crease, I generally count that the colonies that are drawn 

 upon for increase shall make that their business without 

 being expected to be called upon to store surplus, while 

 those that work for surplus are to be left in the fullest 

 strength possible throughout the season. You cannot 

 make something out of nothing, and if increase is to be 

 made you may as well devote a certain number of colo- 

 nies to that business. 



INCREASING BY TAKING TO OUT-APIARY. 



The case may be different in a locality where there 

 is a long and late flow, but I am talking about this local- 



