114 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



After the bees have been taken from 

 the cellar, and had a g'ood flig^ht, we 

 commence at one side of the yard and 

 examine every colon3' carefull}'. Those 

 that are weak in bees, yet have a good 

 queen, we mark; and, as soon as they 

 have some larvae in their combs, which 

 is usually in about five days after set- 

 ting out, each is taken to a good, strong- 

 colony, and set on top, with a queen 

 excluding honey board between. If 

 there is no larvae at this time in the 

 weak colomy, I give it a frame from 

 the strong colony, so as to keep the 

 bees from leaving their queen, and all 

 going below. I close up all entrances 

 except that of the strong colony. The 

 bees will divide themselves about 

 equally between the two queens; and in 

 about four or five weeks I can separate 

 them, and, in nine times out of ten, I 

 have two, good strong colonies. For 

 20 years I have treated all of my weak 

 colonies in this way in early spring. 

 Sometimes I have had 100 weak colo- 

 nies on top of strong colonies, and I 

 don't lose five per cent. I think it a 

 much better way than to try to build 

 them up alone; as there is no trouble 

 from robbers, and no attention is re- 

 quired until it is time to separate them. 

 Don"t keep them tog^ether too long, as 

 the young bees, when over two weeks 

 old, are liable to sting one of the 

 queens. 



When I published the foregoing 

 there was no doubt in my mind that it 

 would work out as Mr. Alexander said 

 it would, that the weak colonies would 

 be saved and build up, but I had a 

 lingering suspicion that the strong 

 colonies might lose as much as the 

 weak ones gained — that it was robbing 

 Peter to pay Paul — and I don't feel 

 sure yet that there is anything gained 

 except saving the queens of the weak 

 colonies; however, I am more than 

 willing to be convinced to the contrary, 

 and here is some more experience that 

 is certainly worth considering. I clip 

 it from a private letter written me by 

 Mr. J. A. Pearce, of Gr^md Rapids, 

 Mich. Mr. Pearce says: — 



In regard to putting light swarms 

 on top of heavy ones, in the spring, I 

 believe it is a great thing. In fact, I 

 look upon it as one of the best 

 things brought to light in modern 

 bee-keeping. Last spring I had 16 



swarms marked heavy, and just 16 

 marked light; in fact, so light that I 

 almost despaired of getting them up to 

 the honey harvest by any process; but 

 when that article by Mr. Alexander 

 came out in the April Review, telling 

 us how to save w^eak colonies by set- 

 ting them on top of strong ones, I con- 

 cluded it would work; so I placed the 

 whole 16 weak swarms on top of the l6 

 strong ones. I examined them some 

 three weeks afterwards, and such a 

 change I never saw I Those weak 

 swarms had built up so they were as 

 strong, if not stronger, than the ones 

 below; and had more honey, because 

 of the tendency to store above. I could 

 scarcely' believe that such results were 

 possible. Then, again, instead of de- 

 tracting in any way from the strong 

 swarms below, it really seemed to be 

 the reverse — as though they had been 

 stimulated b}' it to greater activity. 

 Having the two queens depositing 

 eggs, instead of only one, the bees 

 went out with a rush on all occasions 

 when they could get out. It also proved 

 another thing, which is, that the upper 

 queen is all right only she was handi- 

 capped for want of bees and warmth; 

 and, as soon as these conditions were 

 supplied, she proved herself to be as 

 prolific as her sister below, instead of 

 being the worthless thing that she had 

 been supposed to be, 



I might add that that there were two 

 or three at the recent Grand Rapids 

 meeting of Michigan bee-keepers who 

 reported experiences similar to those 

 of Mr. Alexander and Mr. Pearce. 



If a colony is very populous, so 

 much so that it could care for more 

 eggs than one queen could lay, I 

 should feel that the operation might 

 be a profitable one; and I admit now 

 that it is profitable in so far as it saves 

 the queen of the weak colony, but it is 

 reall3', in one sense, a division of the 

 strong colony, a drawing oflf of 

 bees and heat for the building up of 

 another colony that would likely have 

 been of little value without this assist- 

 ance — certainly not of much value until 

 late in the season. Now, don't get the 

 idea that I am condemning the prac- 

 tice, as it does save the queens; and the 

 time soon comes, when bees are in- 

 creasing rapidly, when these queens 



