THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Combining Systems. 



BY DZIERZON. 



Expovionce has shown that neither the swarm- 

 ing nor the magazine system of bee culture can 

 be universally adopted and i)ursued to the ex- 

 clusion of the other. The nature, extent, and 

 duration of the pasturage will usually determine 

 whieh system is to be preferred, or in what de- 

 gree the two may be advantageously combined. 



The swarming sj^stem will be found profita- 

 ble only in districts of country where the pas- 

 turage, though never superabundant, comes in 

 early, is always nioderat<;ly full, diversified and 

 of long continuance ; and where the full sup- 

 plies are of a similar character. In such situa- 

 tions, early swarms will be able to fill their 

 hives with combs, and store them with liouey 

 enough for the ensuing winter, whilst the parent 

 stocks can gather honey enough for their own 

 wants, with a satisfactory surplus for their 

 owner ; and the young prolilic queens can 

 spetdily replenish the poiulation of the hive. 

 There a stock thus divided into two or more 

 colonies, will increase rapidlj^ and present a 

 much larger force for the ingathering of the 

 harvest, than if it had remained in one united 

 body dependent on the diminishing vigor of 

 the old queen. 



But where the pasturage, hoM'ever plentiful, 

 is of short duration, is made up almost wholly 

 of the blossoms of a single species of plants, 

 and terminates suddenly and entirely with the 

 withering of these ; and where moreover no fall 

 supplies are to be looked for, it is always advi- 

 sable to adopt and adhere to the magazine sys- 

 tem. Enlarged room may then be provided 

 for the bees in season to enable them to store 

 up the honey so transiently within their reach ; 

 and it will be found better to secure an increase 

 of stock later in the season by artificial multi- 

 plication than to allow the bees to waste pre- 

 cious time in preparations for swarming, while 

 they should be engaged in honey -gathering. 

 Even if swarming be allowed, under such cir- 

 cumstances, it results only in depopulating and 

 weakening the parent stocks, and the young 

 swarms will spend the liouey they gather in 

 building combs which cannot afterwards be 

 filled, and starvation not unfrequently over- 

 takes them even before winter sets in. 



Yet there are sections of country where, 

 though the swarming system is preferable on 

 the whole, the seasons are sometimes of such a 

 character that the magazine sj'^stem would be 

 profitable. Thus, after the swarms have issued, 

 the weather in the latter part of summer and in 

 the whole of the fall, niiiy be such, in some 

 years, that supplies of pasturage are almost 

 wholly cut off, and both parent stock and 

 swarms are so poorly furnished that they will 

 die of hunger or must be carried over winter at 

 much cost by regular feeding. 'Whereas, mag- 

 azine hives would, under the same circum- 

 stances, have secured enough at kast to carry 

 them safely forward to the ensuing spring. Or 

 it may happen in some ytars thai there is a su- 

 perabundance of honey in the spring, though 

 the bees do not swarm, anxiously as such seces- 



sion is looked for, and when finally the bee- 

 keeper abandons all expectation thereof and 

 supplies tlie bi es with surplus honey recepta- 

 cles, it IS usually too lute to be of much avail. 

 Had no delay been permitted, a fine harvest of 

 honey might meanwhile have been secured. 



It is heuee obvi(jus that it will be advautnge- 

 ous not to adhere doggedly to either system, 

 but so to arrange matters that either may be re- 

 sorted to, as locality or season may render de- 

 sirable, and to modify our procedures accord- 

 ingly. 



My hives and my method of managing bees 

 are adapted to the reciuirements of either sys- 

 tem, though in practice, I prefer on the whole, 

 making artificial colonies to swarming. As my 

 hives are close and warm, they are well suited 

 to foster the production of natural swarms, when 

 from any reason that is regarded as desirable. 

 At the same time they are better adapted to the 

 magazine system than any others. Still, I do 

 not consider it advisable that bee-keepers resid- 

 ing in districts where straw or box hives are in 

 common use should suddenly cast them aside, 

 and substitute for them the movable comb hive. 

 The latter are superior only when in the hands 

 of an intelligent operator, who makes them the 

 subject of study and attention. He must know 

 how to use them, and actually use them proper- 

 ly in practice, or they will be of no more value 

 to him than those made of a hollow log, if not 

 actually inferior. Let a bee-keeper who is ac- 

 customed to the old fashioned hives, and uses 

 them in the ordinary mode, retain them in liis 

 apiary, and attend to them with his usual 

 diligence and care. He will then be safe, 

 so tar as bee-keeping on the old plan can give 

 any assuiance of safety. But let him also in- 

 troduce a few movable comb hives that he may 

 gradually learn how they are to be used, and 

 proceed to add to their number, as he becomes 

 aware of the superior facilities they present, 

 and familiar with the manipulations requisite 

 to make those facilities available. Valuable re- 

 sults will assuredly be realized in this way, be- 

 cause while learning the proper management of 

 the new kind of hive, he will unquestionably 

 become better qualified to manage bees even on 

 the old system and in old-fashioned hives. 



Where movable comb-hives are used, even 

 on the non-swarming principle, in an apiary in 

 which most of the colonies are still kept in com- 

 mon hives, they furnish the means of building 

 up weak swarms, issuing from the latter so laie 

 in the season that they could not procure sup- 

 plies for the winter, fcjuch late swarms may be 

 put in movable comb hives, and then aided and 

 strengthened with brood and honej^ from like 

 hives, and soon brought to a condition enabling 

 them to winter safely. And again, when a sea- 

 son unpropitious for swarming occurs, because 

 lioni a superabundance of honey stored up from 

 early s^n-ing pasturage, the brooding space has 

 become unduly contracted, bees kept in com- 

 mon hives would produce no increase by 

 swarms, and there would be a small yield of 

 honey in the fall, for the bees would use it 

 freely for the production of brood when the 

 gathering season was over, and empty cells 

 enabled the queen to recommence laying eggs. 



