44 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



direction; as sucli a course is sure to 

 end disastriously, except in extremely 

 favorable localities, and the practice 

 is sure to be abandoned sooner or later. 



SHOOK-SWARMING NO HINDRENCE TO 

 BREEDING OUT THE SWARMING 

 INSTINCT. 



The swarming instinct can as well 

 be bred out where shook-swarming- is 

 being practiced as where it is not. 

 Shook-swarming is, in reality, noth- 

 ing more nor less than anticipating 

 nature, and has practically no influence 

 on the swarming itself. 



ADVANTAGES OF SHOOK-SWARMING. 



Whereas, we used to sit on a box, 

 and wonder when dame nature would 

 see fit to send a swarm tumbling from 

 the entrance of some hive (and when 

 the swarm came, not improbably it 

 was from some hive which we had no 

 idea would cast a swarm that soon), 

 now we simply pull oft" the covers of 

 the hives, one by one, make an examin- 

 ation of the brood nests, and then note 

 down, within a day of the time, when 

 swarms will issue normally, from cer- 

 tion hives. Those colonies that have 

 made no provisions for swarming, may 

 be counted on for staying at home at 

 least another eight days. Those col- 

 onies which show no desire to swarm 

 throughout the season, might better be 

 let alone, as they are the ones which 

 give us the hundreds of pounds of sur- 

 plus — the exceptional yields. 



We can tell as well in "shook-swarm- 

 ing" which queens to breed from as 

 in natural swarming. We may as well 

 select the best yielders, and, if those 

 colonies should have been shaken, it is 

 known that they would have swarmed, 

 naturally, anyhow, and we can lay 

 our plans accordingly. 



THE SWARMING INSTINCT SIMILAR TO 

 BROODINESS IN FOWLS. 



Let US not despair of ultimately per- 

 fecting a strain of bees which will be 

 practically non-swarmers. That end 



will certainly be accomplished some 

 day by diligent and persistent eEfort at 

 selection in breeding. We know that 

 the primary instinct of broodiness in 

 fowls has been practically eradicated, 

 and we know that the swarming in- 

 stinct can be eradicated. Although 

 one is a fowl, and the other an insect, 

 their mode of reproduction is the same, 

 and broodiness in the one is identical 

 with swarming in the other. 



Probably but little progress has been 

 made by apiarists toward the wanted 

 goal, yet we have been giving careful 

 attention to that phase of bee-keeping 

 for only a comparatively short time. 

 It will require years to fully accom- 

 plish the end sought. By practicing in 

 and in breeding as much as possible, 

 much greater progress could be made 

 than by infusing new blood; unless 

 that new blood is from strains which 

 are being bred along the same lines, 

 and equally disinclined to swarm. 

 Were it practicable to use the wonder- 

 ful productive power of the bee to its 

 fullest extent, much greater progress 

 could be made; but we are practically 

 limited to one change of queens per 

 year, as we are unable to judge as to 

 which colonies are the least inclined to 

 swarm until after the main swarming 

 season; and that usually comes 

 only once a year. Yet this ought to be 

 enough for considerable progress. 



THE FOLLY OF NOT ATTEMPTING TO 

 CHANGE THE INSTINCT OF BEES BE- 

 CAUSE IT IS "against nature" 



— OR god's will. 



The thought that the Divine archi- 

 tect has so willed it that bees should 

 swarm, as one writer so persistently 

 deigns to remark, should haive no in- 

 fluence upon us who are endeavoring to 

 eradicate swarming. To entertain 

 such a thought would be suicidal to 

 our purpose, and diametrically opposed 

 to all advancement; not onl3' in our 

 line but in all others. Let it be rele- 

 gated to the dark ages. 



OSAKiS, Minn., Oct. 6, 1904. 



