1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



189 



them ; put the excluder and covers 

 on carefully, and shake some in front 

 of the entrance. They will soon go in. 



You can hurry them up by brush- 

 ing them carefully. 



When you pour some of the bees 

 out hold the box out of the way, or it 

 will draw them to it. Gently tapp- 

 ing on the hive will help to get them in. 



You can put sections on immedi- 

 ately or extracting super over a 

 queen-excluding honey-board. 



Should the bees be very cross while 

 swarming, the smoker is the best 

 remedy. If you shake them off the 

 trees and they fall some distance, 

 they will be angry. I have kept 

 bees on the above plan for 17 y(;ars, 

 and have found it reliable. I seldom, 

 if ever, have any " runaways. " 



A. C, Sanford. 



(From the American Bee Journal). 



HOW TO PSEVENT SWAKMING. 



BY JOHN WELCH JR. 



To the apiarist whose chief object 

 is the production of honey, the pre- 

 vention of increase by natural swarm- 

 ing becomes a serious problem, which 

 is not satisfactorily solved by many. 

 The numerous members of the bee- 

 keeping fraternity practice various 

 plans to accomplish their ends in this 

 respect, such as removing or caging 

 the queen, cutting aut queen-cells, 

 using entrance-guards or queen-traps, 

 extracting or giving surplus room 

 above. 



Where I run for comb honey alone, 

 I have attained very fair success along 

 this line, by keeping myself well post- 

 ed concerning the condition of the 

 colonies, and whenever I find one 

 whose brood-chamber is getting near- 

 ly full (and this the experienced bee- 



keeper is enabled to tell at a glance 

 on opening the hive, by observing 

 that the bees have begun to whiten 

 and bulge the combs at the top-bars), 

 I put on a super at once, and put in 

 it two or three partly-filled sections to 

 entice the bees to go to work above, 

 which it will usually do at once if 

 there is a sufficient flow of nectar. If 

 I observe that the bees are still ham- 

 pered for room, then put on another, 

 putting it beneath the first, which 

 should now be partly filled. Give the 

 bees just room enough, and then en- 

 tice them to go to work above, and 

 you have accomplished your object, 

 and thereby increased your profits 

 and abated the swarming-fever. 



In addition to the above, if it is at 

 a time of the year when the young 

 bees reared would mature at a time to 

 assist in gathering some particular 

 honey -flow, I remove the outside 

 frames, which are usually filled with 

 honey only, and slip in the middle of 

 the colony a couple of frames filled 

 with full sheets of foundation ; this 

 will give the bees and queen more 

 room and work for awhile. 



But it is ray opinion, to get at the 

 matter aright, so as to obtain the best 

 results, it becomes necessary for us to 

 go further back, and see that we have 

 gota strain of bees whose energies 

 are spent on honey-gathering, more 

 than on increase alone. There is 

 without doubt a vast difference in 

 various strains of bees in this respect ; 

 while some with a vim are gathering 

 in from field and wood, the various 

 sweets which they can find, others 

 with equal energy are bent on in- 

 creasing their numbers more than 

 their stores, and consequently when 

 winter comes, they find that they 



