guard tlie liive — however, all the bees that 

 arc out ill the fields at the time the swarin 

 issues, will return to the old hive— and no 

 qut'eii, as she went out with the swarin. 

 But we generally find queen-cells contain- 

 ing the royal larvie, sealed or unsealed, 

 which will develop into young queens in a 

 few days, in the old hive. Such is the con- 

 dition of the old colony iminediately after 

 the swarm has issued. 



To summarize : The old liive is full of 

 comb, plenty of honey, twenty to thirty 

 thousand young bees in all stages of devel- 

 opment, called the brood, and a few bees to 

 nurse and care for the brood, but no (|ueeii ; 

 tiierefore, it will be several days before the 

 old hive contains a good swarm of working 

 bees and a laying queen, for eight or ten 

 days must elapse before a queen and any 

 considerable number of bees are developed. 



Now we turn to the swarm that has just 

 issued; having hived them in a new liive, 

 we find the queen with nearly all the bees 

 that are able to fly — old and young, nurses, 

 comb-builders and honey-gathers. It is true, 

 they have neither comb, honey — except what 

 they carried in their honey sacs — nor 

 brood, but they have all the workers to be- 

 gin anew and fill their hive with comb, 

 brood and honey. iSvich is the natural 

 swarming, or swarming according to their 

 instinct or habits. 



The best methods of artificial swarming 

 must therefore be similar. And now for the 

 ])lau that will give each hive its due propor- 

 tion of honey-gatherers, comb-builders and 

 nurses, etc., as near as possible. 



First, stimulate your bees by feeding early 

 in the season to make them strong; and 

 when they have started queen-cells, or if 

 they do not start them soon enough for you, 

 divide them by taking half the combs, bees 

 and all, from the old hive and setting them 

 in the new one, replacing them with the 

 empty frames from the new hive. Set the 

 •old hive a little to one side, and the new one 

 a little to the other, and thus get the bees as 

 near equally divided as you can. If you 

 notice more bees going into one hive than 

 the other move it a little further off. and 

 vice versd; you can generally tell if you do 

 not know which has the queen by their un- 

 easiness, running all over and around the 

 front of the hive in search of her. 



About the twelfth day after the division 

 examine the queenless liive, and cut out all 

 the queen-cells but one, and secure them in 

 cages as directed for Italianizing. Then go 

 to the colony you wish to swarm, take two- 

 thirds or more of the comb from the old 

 hive, shaking most of the adhering bees off 

 into the old hive, set them in the new hive 

 close up to the end, setting the euqity frames 

 of the new hive between the combs, altern- 

 ately, in the old hive ; cut out a piece in one 

 of the combs in the new hive and fit in your 

 cage containing your <iueen-cell, close up 

 your hives and e(iualize the bees as before 

 directed. By that means you get the most 

 of the young bees, plentv of the older ones, 

 and the queen in the old hive. Although it 

 has but two or three, or prehaps four cards 

 of comb, it has the working force and will 

 soon fill u)) again, when the same process 

 may be repeated. While the new hive has 

 but few bees it has the most of the brood 



and a queen-cell that will hatch in four days 

 or less time, you get honey-gatherers and 

 comb-builders etc., in each hive. 



About the third day, or perhaps sooner, 

 the young queen will hatch; then examine 

 and see if the bees have started any queen- 

 cells in the new hive ; if they have, cut them 

 out before liberating the young queen ; in a 

 few days she will be laying, and everything 

 moving on all right ; and in a short time the 

 new hive will be full and you can swarm it 

 the same way. 



Remember, in making swarms on this 

 plan, to always have the queen in the old 

 hive. R. II. Anthony. 



Tullahoma, Tennessee, Feb. 3, 1878. 



Mich. Agricultural College Apiary- 

 Report for 1877. 



METHODS ADOPTED. 



The following methods were adopted in 

 preparation for the winter of 187(i-7. 13 of 

 the 19 colonies were ])ut into the apiary 

 cellar, which is dry, daric, quiet, well-venti- 

 lated, and which preserved a temperature 

 of from 35° to 4(5^ Fahrenheit. 



Three colonies were buried. A hole was 

 dug in the side of a hill, where the soil was of 

 light sand. Some straw was put in the 

 bottom, on which the hives were set. The 

 top of the hives reached tlie plane. of the 

 general surface level. A mound of straw 

 was then laid on the hives, which was cov- 

 ered with about 4 inches of earth. A second 

 layer of straw was then added, which was 

 also covered, like the first. xV.t the apex of 

 the cone, was left projecting a twist of 

 straw, 3 inches in diameter, which, though 

 uncovered with earth, was so protecteil with 

 a board as to keep tlu^ straw dry. About 

 the base of the mound a trench was dug, 

 which opened on the down-hill side.— 

 During the severe weather of December, 

 when the thernumieter marked 19" below 

 zero, a load of nuuiure was added to the 

 mound. 



The 3 remaining colonies were arranged 

 as follows: About the hives, excei)t at the 

 front, which faces the east, l)oards were 

 placed, leaving a space of one foot between 

 them and the hive, and extending one foot 

 above the hives. The enclosed space was 

 then crowded with straw, which also cov- 

 ered the hives one foot. Two of these were 

 protected from wet by a close-fitting cover, 

 while the third was left open at the top, so 

 the straw would become wet and frozen. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES. 



All the colonies in the apiary had young, 

 prolific queens, except in case of one, whose 

 queen was imported, and which contained 

 brood in October. They were examined 

 for the last time in October, when all 

 uncapped honey was thrown from the cells, 

 and each colony provided by weight with 

 .30 lbs. of capped honey. This took eight 

 frames of comb, though in a few cases nine 

 were re(iuiied. The frames containing the 

 most ('mi)ty cells were placed in the center, 

 and all the combs received a central open- 

 ing, cylindrical in form, % of an inch in 



