AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



545 



have noted closely, but still I may be 

 wrong. Let us hear from others on this 

 point. 

 Port Allegany, Pa. 



[Yes; the editor wrote advisedly. 

 Basswood trees are rapid growers. We 

 know of trees which furnish a profusion 

 of bloom after being set out ten years. 

 Young trees, 6 feet high when set out, 

 have been known to furnish a fair 

 amount cf blossoms after five years, in 

 favorable localities. During a good 

 yield of basswood, colonies of bees will 

 frequently pay for themselves in ten 

 days. Basswood honey often comes like 

 a shower, in good seasons, giving the 

 bees all that they can do to take care of 

 it.— Ed.] 



How to Preyeiit Sw arinliii. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



When discussing this subject the 

 temptation to argue the question, rather 

 than to rely on a simple description of 

 the manipulation resorted to, to accom- 

 plish the object in view, is very great. 

 So many apiarists have imbibed the idea 

 that some sort of contraction of the 

 brood-nest is essential to the production 

 of comb-honey, if not the extracted 

 article, that any new discovery that runs 

 counter to this idea of contraction meets 

 a deaf ear, If not open opposition. 



Let me say, once for all, that when a 

 new discovery is applied to an old system, 

 it often becomes necessary to revise the 

 old system to accommodate it to the 

 newly-applied discovery. These remarks 

 apply not exclusively to the old system 

 of bee-culture, but to all systems per- 

 taining to all industries. Those persons 

 who are determined to stick to the old 

 paths of tlfe past, are not in position to 

 profit by any new discovery ; and this 

 essay is not written for that class of 

 readers. 



When your apiary is as large as you 

 want it, what would you give to be able, 

 by a simple, practical manipulation at 

 the beginning of the swarming season, 

 to hold all your colonies in full strength 

 of working and breeding force steadily 

 through the entire honey harvest ? You 

 can do it beyond a doubt, by practicing 

 my new system of preventing swarming ; 

 and If you have the ingenuity to apply 

 proper management to suit the new 



condition, your surplus yield will be 

 larger than by any other method hereto- 

 fore made known to the public. 



1 have practiced the new system 

 lai'gely for the past two seasons, and my 

 surplus yield was never so large, though 

 it is well known that the past two sea- 

 sons were not above the average as 

 honey-yielding seasons. 



As I have already intimated, my plan of 

 preventing swarming, and entirely pre- 

 venting increase, is accomplished by one 

 single manipulation right at the com- 

 mencement of swarming. Only one hive 

 and its outfit is used for each colony. 

 Any system that requires a divided con- 

 dition of the colony, using two or more 

 hives, is not worthy of a thought. 



In my practice, I begin with the 

 strongest colonies and transfer the 

 combs containing brood from the brood- 

 chamber to an upper story above the 

 queen-excluder. One comb containing 

 some unsealed brood and eggs is left in 

 the brood-chamber as a start for the 

 queen. I fill out the brood-chamber 

 with empty combs, as I have a full outfit 

 for my apiary. But full frames of foun- 

 dation, or even starters, may be used in 

 the absence of drawn combs. 



When the manipulation is completed, 

 the colony has all of its brood with the 

 queen, only its condition is altered. The 

 queen has a new brood-nest below the 

 excluder, while the combs of brood are 

 in the center of the super, with the sides 

 filled out with empty combs above the 

 queen-excluder. 



In 21 days all the brood will be 

 hatched out above the excluder, and the 

 bees will begin to hatch in the queen's 

 chamber below the excluder ; so a con- 

 tinuous succession of young bees is well 

 sustained. 



If my object is to take the honey with 

 the extractor, I tier up with a surplus 

 of extracting combs as fast as the large 

 colony needed the room to store surplus. 

 Usually, the combs above the excluder 

 will be filled with honey by the time all 

 the bees are hatched out, and no system 

 is as sure to give one set of combs full 

 of honey for the extractor in the very 

 poorest seasons ; and if the season is 

 propitious, the yield will be enormous 

 under proper management. 



The great economy of this system is, 

 all the colonies will produce as nearly 

 alike as can well be — a condition of 

 things that never occurs in any apiary 

 swayed by the swarming impulse. If 

 my object is fancy comb-honey, I tier 

 the section-cases on the super that con- 

 tains the brood, and push the bees to 

 start all the combs they can ; at the 



