THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



301 



same plan when running- for comb gets 

 the best results in neither quantity or 

 finish, and wi7l not control. I know of 

 one or two methods that are practical. 

 Unqueeninf^ will surel3' control; but, 

 some seasons, and in some localities, 

 such as have a second or later flow, it 

 damages the crop from the late flow 

 too seriously. The best plan I know 

 of is togive bie: room at all times outside 

 tlic flow, and if you have conditions 

 that cause swarming- be/ore the flow 

 comes, take away brood, or, in some 

 other way, keep the conditions such 

 that swarming ivill not occur, aud then 

 when the flow arrives shake out and 

 mass the bees, as swarms, hiving on 

 starters. This way make our swarms 

 when we are ready, and what is also 

 of equal importance 7v/ien tlie floiv is 

 ready. When you have swarmed the 

 bees, have queens for such increase as 

 you may make, that not any one is left 

 queenless, and the oldest and poorest 

 queens had best be left with the swarm 

 on the old stand. Put the old hive on 

 a new stand, and let it have a vig-orous 

 queen that will fill her hive with brood 

 while there is not enough fielders to 

 clog the combs with honoy; this will 

 insure a rousing colony for a later 

 flow if there is one. So handled there 

 is no question about results, if there is 

 the nectar to be gathered; you master 

 the swarming so that you can go when 

 you please, and it will get the honey 

 if it is to be had. Haul in your crop 

 as it is finished, as you make trips 

 from week to week, and after the 

 gathering is over, scrape, extract, case 

 and market. 



Let the winter be the time to get all 

 supplies ready. In spring do yard- 

 work in clipping- queens, trimming 

 frames and slicking the hives to make 

 handling easy, look after brooding- so 

 as to keep the work going- on, Iceep 

 track of strong- colonies that they do 

 not run short of stores or swarm too 

 soon, and get everything- cocked and 

 primed for the. supreme effort when the 



flow and swarming: comes. Have a 

 sufficient supplyof supers and hives so 

 there will be no extracting or such 

 work during the flow and the swarm- 

 ing season. There must be as few 

 things as possible to bother when you 

 are swarming and getting super work 

 started. 



I believe in manipulating throughout 

 the spring-, previous to the flow, to clip 

 queens, cut off burr combs, work to 

 the outside the poorer combs, to equal- 

 ize stores, and, in some cases, equalize 

 brood, to see if queens are doing- their 

 best, and, if not, to encourage them, to 

 turn combs the other end front when 

 the brood is being- spread across the 

 front, leaving the back ends without 

 brood (this is the best way to spread 

 brood) and to keep tab on those that 

 may supersede. The clipping- is to 

 prevent swarms from leaving- should I 

 be delayed beyond the set time to visit 

 a yard at swarming time, and is a 

 good way to keep tab on the ag-e of 

 queens. A queen that I find without 

 wing-s in the spring- is marked o. q. in 

 the record, and the next spring, when 

 she is still there, with the o. q. record 

 of the previous spring:, she is too old. 

 The proper way is to clip all queens in 

 the spring- that were not previously 

 clipped, and all that were clipped the 

 previous spring are rated as old and 

 superseded after supplying- a colony of 

 bees for tliat year's wortz, thus each 

 queen does two years' service; 'tis not 

 profitable to keep them longer, because 

 too many fail before the flow the third 

 year. 



For this country, we winter on sum- 

 mer stands; a yard established, it 

 stays there year in and out. And as 

 for transportation, if you have rail- 

 roads, electric, or other means of 

 going, use that which will give ji'<?« the 

 best service. Our roads are mostly 

 good, and such that a good team will 

 haul a ton, on a suitable wagon, with 

 springs, and get over three to five miles 

 an hour, and six to eight when empty. 



