THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



343 



According- to Gerstung-'s theory this 

 gradually increasing- extension of the 

 blood is the actual physiological cause 

 of different impulses. At first the sur- 

 plus of blood acts upon the wax glands; 

 wax is secreted and combs are built 

 if possible. But ht^reby no albumen is 

 consumed, the blood will get richer on 

 nitrogen, and the impulse to build 

 drone combs and raise drones is 

 incited; and if the blood is still more 

 extended quoen cells are started. As 

 chyle is teed to the queen by the young- 

 worker bees, and as this chyle has the 

 same chemical composition as the 

 blood of the worker bees, the queen is 

 governed by the same impulses as the 

 worker bees and will lay eg-gs in drone 

 and queen cells. If queen cells are 

 started and larvae raised in them a 

 swarm will follow by necessity. 



This is, briefly, the theory of swarm- 



Bow SWARMING MAY BK PKICVKNTKD. 



If this theory is correct, it will be 

 plain that we can prevent swarming 

 for some time, at least if we satisfy 

 as much as possible the lower im- 

 pulses; because we prevent the ex- 

 tension of the blood and thereby the 

 appearance of higher impulses. The 

 first requirement is to give a large 

 brood-nest: a large hive filled with 

 empty combs. The queen can lay more 

 eggs than in a small'hive. But this is 

 not sufficient. The brood-nest of a 

 normal colony will always show a cer- 

 tain order. The queen is laying eggs 

 in a circle, or rather in the form of 

 shells like the skin around an onion. 

 The brood of the same age will always 

 be close together. If we destroy this 

 order, the queen can't lay as' many 

 eggs. She may find capped brood 

 where she expects empty cells. If the 

 bee-keeper, for instance, places an 

 empty comb between two frames of 

 capped brood, he will very probably 

 observe that these combs will remain 

 empty for some time, till the young 

 bees in the neighboring combs hatch 

 out of the cells. Such empty combs 

 should be given just where the queen 

 IS laying eggs in the center of the 

 combs, or outside of the brood-nest 

 between the last brood comb and the 

 pollen comb. If this is not observed, 

 the spreading of the brood will do more 

 damage than good. Anotherhindrance 

 in egg-laying is frames very shallow 

 or very narrow. As the queen soon 

 arrives at these ends of the combs, her 



circle of egg-laying is broken, and she 

 has to hunt for another patch of empty 

 cells. Thus, not only is a large brood'- 

 nest required, but it should also con- 

 tain large combs; a hive with many 

 small combs will contain less brood 

 than one of fewer and larger combs, 

 both having the same comb surface. 



The queens, too, are very diflerent 

 in prolificness. Some may lay 3000, 

 even 4000, eggs daily, others only 2000 

 at the most. Some colonies are strong, 

 and may start with a few cells of 

 brood. All these differences have some 

 influences on the time when the swarm- 

 ing impulse will appear, and this in- 

 fluence is quite in accordance with our 

 theory. 



If the secretion of wax and comb 

 building have commenced, we can 

 delay swarming by satisfying this 

 impulse. On this principle is based 

 the "Simmins non-swarming system." 

 Simmins induces the bees to build 

 combs between the brood-nest and the 

 alighting-hole, and repeatedly cuts 

 away these combs. Under certain cir- 

 cumstances, swarming can be prevent- 

 ed in this vvay. 



If we take from a colony some capped 

 brood, and give, in its place, combs 

 with eggs and young larvae, we can 

 prevent swarming for several days, be- 

 cause we diminish the number of bees 

 which will soon prepare chyle, and we 

 enlarge the number oi consimiers of this 

 chyle. To the contrary, we can induce 

 a colony to swarm if we take away 

 open brood and give some capped 

 brood. 



Another observation made by bee- 

 keepers, especially here in Texas, is 

 that during the main honey flow no 

 colony will swarm if this flow is very 

 good, and if the colony had no queen 

 cells when the flow commenced. In 

 some years, even drones are driven out 

 of the hive by some colonies during the 

 flow. Generally it is asserted that a 

 honey flow is favorable to swarming. 

 Here, the contrary is true. This fact 

 is not explained as yet, nevertheless, 

 the explanation is very simple. As a 

 rule, all worker bees eat pollen, if they 

 need nitrogenous food, but during ii 

 very rapid honey flow, if all hands are 

 at work, a new division of labor takes 

 place. Chyle is feed by the voung bees 

 to \\\Q field bees, and so all the surplus 

 of chyle is consumed; sometimes even 

 so much that the brood nest is conti act- 

 ed too much, and every empty cell filled 

 with honey. That during such honey 

 flows the field bees are in fact fed by 



