THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



twelve thousand to thirty thousand bees to en- 

 able it to pass the winter safely. In what then 

 consists the ability of any kind of artificial 

 swarm to increase, from a mere handful of bees, 

 to a due wintering condition ? It is certainly 

 not to be found alone in the circumstance that 

 the swarm has been made a few weeks earlier 

 in the season. It arises solely from the practi- 

 cability of gradually, yet speedily, building up 

 the feeble community, by the regular intro- 

 duction of brood and bees from other colonies. 

 But this is in direct contravention to the as- 

 sumption that a handful of bees, in possession 

 of a comb of brood, can develop itself in the 

 course of the season to a colony qualified to 

 pass the winter safely. Yea, it would be like 

 adopting a business in which I am assured that, 

 by an investment often dollars, I should gaiu 

 a thousand. But the ten dollars prove to be 

 only the first outlay, to which ten more are to 

 be added, and then thirty, again a hundred, 

 and furthermore two hundred in addition. If I 

 cannot do this, then the thousand dollars gain 

 will ever remain among the things to be hoped 

 for. If I cannot add to the little swarm or nu- 

 cleus first one, and then two, and finally three, 

 four or five combs with brood, and very like- 

 ly also several combs with honey, it will never 

 reach a condition fitting it to withstand the 

 rigon* of winter, and whatever is doue is total- 

 ly lost. 



Now, worthy friends, those of you who are 

 masters in bee-keeping Israel, may do as seem- 

 eth good in your own eyes ; but let the younger 

 brethren, whose minds are yet open to good 

 counsel, be advised never to make small artifi- 

 cial colonies in the expectation that these will, 

 by unaided natural growth and development, 

 become strong winter-standing stocks in the 

 course of the season. On the other hand, when 

 they resort to artificial swarming, let them be 

 sure to make their colonies strong at the outset, 

 each having at least twelve thousand workers, 

 or obtaining that number, within ten days 

 or two weeks, from the brood combs in- 

 serted in the hive. Let them avoid all uncer- 

 tain speculations, and strain after nothing 

 which they cannot conveniently and certainly 

 reach. A large number of small swarms is 

 easily made; but to strengthen them afterwards 

 and build them up properly, by means of brood 

 and bees, is very difficult and ofttimes utterly 

 impracticable, unless you have already many 

 stong old stocks. 



But when the bee-keeper has thus formed 

 strong artificial colonies, he must be not the 

 less solicitous for their conservation and 

 steady growth. He must not abandon them to 

 their fate, so that, perchance, five or six weeks 

 later, they shall contain only two-thirds or only 

 one-half of their original number of bees, and 

 possibly be without brood or even a fertile 

 queen. That would be losing both interest 

 and principal. Such a colony should never be 

 started with a queen cell or mere brood, but al- 

 ways with a fertile reserve queen, so that its 

 growth and prosperity may be secured from the 

 outset. 



The case is far otherwise with a small nucleus 

 containing, at the start, only about a thousand 



workers and a comb of brood, and which re- 

 ceives no subsequent aid. Whether these thou-' 

 said bees furnish their owner with either honey 

 or wax, is of small consequence. They are design- 

 ed to subserve a different purpose; they are to^la- 

 bor for others — for the common benefit of the en- 

 tire apiary ; in short, they are intended to sup- 

 ply the required reserve queens, which future 

 operations render so desirable and important. 

 Though in the course of the summer, they fur- 

 nish only two fertile queens, by means of which 

 the destitution of other strong queenlcss colon- 

 ies can be quickly relieved, they have well re- 

 paid their cost. And should it happen, as once 

 in a while it will, that the nucleus fails to fur- 

 nish any fertile queens, no serious damage 

 would be sustained, as every judicious opera- 

 tor will each summer provide and maintain a 

 number corresponding with the extent of his 

 apiary and his intended operations. 



"Ah, then, weak nuclei nevertheless, with 

 brood combs, and merely to raise reserve queens! 

 "We see no advantage in that !" As you please, 

 good friends ; but consider — it is not a matter 

 of indifference whether a nucleus of one thou- 

 sand bees be engaged for weeks and months in 

 rearing queens, or a colony of from twelve 

 thousand to sixty thousand bees be thus occu- 

 pied during that time. It is not a matter of in- 

 difference whether a small colony or a populous 

 stock be kept queenless. It is not a matter of 

 indifference whether the bee-keeper has to ex- 

 amine repeatedly a nucleus containing only 

 three combs, or a colony containing tcn^ twen- 

 ty, or thirty, before he can ascertain whether 

 the queen newly raised has become fertile. 



I will now state my method of raising reserve 

 queens. 



First of all, nucleus hives must be provided, 

 of a size fitted to receive three combs or frames 

 each, such as are used in our large hives ; and 

 there should be from three to six such for every 

 ten of the large hives in the apiary, according as 

 increase of colonies is intended to be more or 

 less rapid during the season. 



These nucleus hives should not be populated 

 in the spring, till after the bees have been 

 gathering honey and pollen plentifully, and the 

 brood combs are well stocked with eggs and 

 larvoe, some drone brood being already capped. 

 Though I may name definite days lor operating, I 

 do so simply for illustration ; since the weather, 

 temperature, and other circumstances may com- 

 pel various deviations from regular routine. I 

 am besides no advocate of early multiplication, 

 because I know from experience that in most 

 localities brood developes slowly in the spring, 

 and an early abstraction of brood and bees is 

 detrimental to the old stock. 



About the 30th of April, take two nucleus 

 hives for every ten old stocks thot have been 

 wintered in good condition, and insert in each 

 nucleus one empty worker comb. At this 

 period, there will probably be found among ten 

 old stocks two that can each spare a comb of 

 worker brood ; and the remaining eight will be 

 able to furnish in the aggregate four thousand 

 workers. A comb of brood is now to be placed 

 in each nucleus ; and where circumstances per- 

 mit, combs containing a large proportion of 



