52 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



location it would give about the 

 following results : one colony out 

 of ten will cast an after-swarm in 

 the usual way, except that the 

 swarm will be smaller than usual ; 

 one-fifth of the swarms will"swarm" 

 by reason of the relay of bees 

 from the parent colony. One colony 

 out often will "lay out" and "sulk" 

 away the best of the honey season, 

 while nearly all of the parent col- 

 onies are too nearly exhausted to 

 do any good in way of surplus 

 honey. 



The rest of the swarms will 

 "work like a charm," and the work 

 we had to do, to perform the divers 

 manipulations to carry out the 

 schedule, was any thing but"charm- 

 ing." Well, the Heddon plan in 

 our location, like the others, was 

 found a "vain hope." 



By this time my apiary exceeded 

 one hundred colonies, and I began 

 to get desperate, and to have 

 visions of the brimstone pits. 



If my judgment is not seriously 

 at fault not one honey producer in 

 ten can find sale for his surplus 

 bees at a price that will cover 

 the cost of hive foundation and 

 winter stores. As long as this 

 state of things exists, some reliable 

 method to suppress increase will 

 be a great desideratum. 



After trying many experiments, 

 I believe the cheapest and most 

 satisfactory way of preventing after- 

 swarms is to pinch the cells which 

 cause the swarming, immediately 

 after the swarm issues, and turn 

 loose among the bees a virgin queen 

 from one to four days old. This 

 plan is not "new," it is only the 



application of a little sound phi- 

 losophy. Bees never start queen 

 cells in the presence of a virgin 

 queen over one day old, if they 

 have accepted her. It is this start- 

 ing of queen cells that does all the 

 mischief. 



To prevent swarming altogether, 

 my new system of dividing the 

 colony in two divisions, employing 

 the queenless divisions to produce 

 the surplus honey, and the parent 

 division to produce bees, reuniting 

 them as soon as the swarming sea- 

 son is mainly past,will answer the 

 purpose to perfection. But more 

 time is needed to ascertain if the 

 plan is altogether practicable. 



Christiansbwy, Ky. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF THE 

 CELLS OF THE HIVE BEE. 



By Arthur Todd. 



The cell of the hive bee has for 

 many centuries called forth the 

 wonder of naturalists and indeed 

 of all observers. 



Why should, or how should, so 

 comparatively humble a creature, 

 in the construction of its comb, 

 select that precise form which of- 

 fers the greatest economy of form 

 and material? 



Granting that the bee possesses 

 no inconsiderable share of intelli- 

 gence, we can scarcely conceive of 

 her having made sufficient progress 

 in the higher mathematics to select 

 knowingly the precise angles which 

 arc best adapted to the object in 



