1907. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



105 



of the country are blessed with many absolute or invariable, for the observa- 



cool nights and often cool days during tions while numerous and extending 



the honey season and at suoh times over a considerable time are not yet 



protection to the hive will readily pay extensive enough to be termed scien- 



for itself many times over. While tifically accurate. However, they are 



such nights are delightful to mankind complete enough to warrant my mak- 



they are not the best for the bees. ing general deductions and I believe 



Regarding the temperatures quoted those deductions are worthy the seri- 



above and the hours of the periods of ous consideration of bee masters, 



activity, I wish to particularly state providence, R. I., Feb. 25, 1907. 

 that they should not be considered as 



SWARMS AND SWARM DECOYS. 



C. W. DAYTON. 



BY MY plan of managing swarms 

 several birds are killed with 

 a single stone. Other plans 

 require the queen to be hunted 

 out. In the swarming season that is 

 a tedious job. Thirty queens a day is 

 a good day's work. But if they are 

 allowed to swarm naturally they bring 

 their queens out of the hives them- 

 selves and may be caused to alight in 

 one cluster, in which condition the 

 bees can be run through a sheet of 

 perforated zinc into one large box, 

 leaving their queens behind, in a 

 separate apartment. Thus the whole 

 day's labor is reduced to a few min- 

 utes of easy work. 



In dequeening by this natural swarm- 

 ing there is no loss of eggs and brood. 

 This saving of the brood is the salient 

 feature of the Alexander plan. But 

 the Alexander plan involves the long 

 search for the queen and the building 

 of an unprofitable set of brood combs. 

 So does "shook swarming." 



My colonies are requeened by cells 

 obtained from the oolonies which 

 swarm first. Those choice cells which 

 are prepared by the bees and eggs laid 



in them by the queen. I save no cells 

 from the later swarming colonies, be- 

 cause the latest to swarm are the poor- 

 est stock. It takes a heavier honov 

 flow to make a poor colony swarm, 

 but a very light flow of honey to cause 

 a good colony to swarm, as the amount 

 of honey coming into the hive is about 

 the same in the case of the different 

 colonies. Thus we are able to dis- 

 tinguish wihere O'ur best stock is and 

 improve the present grade by requeen- 

 ing from the best. It is only necessary 

 to keep a record of the "swarmed" 

 colonies and insert the cells at the 

 proper time. New queens obtained in 

 this way do not cost ten cents each. 

 What makes queens worth one dollar 

 is the artificial rearing of cells and 

 forming of nuclei, feeding, propagation 

 of drones, advertising, uncertainty of 

 demand, watching the mail, fussing 

 with shipping cages, etc. 



DECOY HIVES. 



In customary practice nearly all 

 apiarists arrange the colonies so as to 

 face as diflferently as possible to cause 

 the swarms to settle distinct from one 



