THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



51 



Furthermore, white sage belongs 

 to a generic section by itself and 

 is too far botanically different from 

 any other Audibertia to hybridize. 

 Also, if it had or would do so any- 

 where, it would be in the southern 

 counties where three or four species 

 grow together. But no such hy- 

 brid, sport or variety is noticed in 

 the ' Geological Survey : Botany,' 

 which is very minute in its way of 

 noticing," 



Now, this reliable information 

 upsets a pet notion of the writers ; 

 that is, crossing the several kinds 

 of honey sages to produce a new 

 variety. Still, there is a chance 

 of obtaining a sport that may be 

 of merit. 



Until the Beekeeper's corres- 

 pondent can produce better evi- 

 dence than he has, the cut in Vick's 

 Magazine must be accepted as a 

 representation of the true white 

 sage. 



No. Temescal, Cal. 



AFTER-SWARMS, ARE 

 THEY PROFITABLE ? 



By G. W. Demakee. 



Perhaps much depends on lo- 

 calit}^ honey resources, etc., as to 

 whether after-swarms can be made 

 profitable even when increase is 

 desirable. In a location like my 

 own, "after swarms" have always 

 cost me in way of foundation, win- 

 ter stores, etc., as much as they are 

 worth. I think, however, if we are 

 willing to buy increase, we may as 

 well obtain it in this way. 



I commenced at this place with 

 just one colony of Italian bees, and 

 by allowing but one prime swarm 

 as a general thing, I built up an 

 apiary of fifty colonies and made 

 them pay a profit on the investment 

 all the time. I found out when it 

 was too late to profit by it, that I 

 should have found it more profitable 

 to go more slowly, by suppress- 

 ing all but first, or prime, swarms. 

 When my apiary was built up to 

 fifty colonies, I began to see the 

 necessity of suppressing inci'ease, 

 and I began to test all the plans 

 given to the public by experienced 

 bee masters. 



One season I "cut out queen 

 cells" till I was positively sick of 

 the job, and got a lot of inferior 

 queens as the results. Next, I 

 tried the plan of giving the parent 

 colony a mature queen cell, after 

 removing the cells which had caused 

 the swarm. This did not prevent 

 other cells from being started, 

 hence the after-swarms,as a general 

 rule, would come a little in advance 

 of the natural time, that is all. 



Well, I next commenced to weak- 

 en the swarming colonies by re- 

 moving frames of brood from time 

 to time, and substituting therefor 

 frames filled with foundation. This 

 suppressed the swarming fever, 

 and "suppressed" my honey crop 

 also, and I dropped it. 



Other methods were tried with 

 unsatisfactory results, till along 

 came the "Heddon plan of pre- 

 venting after-swai-ms." I took to 

 it quite naturally, as a drowning 

 man will catch at straws, and 

 after trying it, I found that in my 



