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THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



changing combs with swarms that had more 

 honey than was necessary. I could have fed 

 them, but I prefer to have my bees self-sustain- 

 ing." 



" Well, how do you manage them through the 

 summer and fall, so as to have them come out 

 in good condition in the spring, as yours have 

 this spring?" 



" I practice artificial swarming altogether, and 

 use a hive with small frames, and one that I 

 can contract or enlarge to suit any sized 

 swarm." 



" Oh, that is one of Gallup' s whims." 



" Well, suppose it is, so long as it works well 

 in practice, and Gallup does not charge any- 

 thing for his whims. I keep all my old swarms 

 strong, and when I make a new one, whether I 

 commence with one frame or more, I keep that 

 strong also. I am careful not to enlarge my 

 hive too fast, and if I get only six frames filled 

 with comb, I allow the bees to fill that with 

 brood and honey ; and then if the honey har- 

 vest is cut off, I have a good swarm to winter. 

 The dimensions ef their hive is twelve inches 

 deep, twelve inches from front to rear, and nine 

 inches wide ; and each comb is occupied with 

 bees, brood, and honey. Or if they fill eight 

 frames, I have got a hive just, twelve inches 

 square, which, when winteied in the cellar, will 

 winter just as well as a full hive ; and with a 

 young prolific queen, they make an excellent 

 stock to store honey the next season, after filling 

 their hive. Now, you perceive, that if I had 

 enlarged this hive faster, and caused the bees to 

 fill it with comb in such a season as the last, I 

 should have had a hive with plenty of comb and 

 bees, but no honey, for they would have con- 

 sumed all their honey in building comb and 

 raising extra bees. I wish to have you thorough- 

 ly understand this theory. If you have four 

 frames in your hive, and the bees crowded on 

 these four frames, all their labors can be carried 

 on, out doors and within. But if vou enlarge 

 it to eight frames, with only the same number of 

 bees, it requires so many more of the workers 

 to stay at home and keep up the animal heat, 

 that none can be spared to labor outside. This 

 is one reason why so many complain that artifi- 

 cial swarms do not work as well as natural 

 ones. Then, too, in the latter part of the sea- 

 son I manage to get rid of all the old queens, 

 or queens that are liable to fail early next sea- 

 son; and get young prolific queens in their places. 

 And here let me remark that, years before I 

 practiced artificial swarming, I used to take sur- 

 plus queens from third and fourth swarms to 

 supplant old queens; and I never failed in get- 

 ting prolific queens. Third and fourth swarms 

 frequently come out with from two to six queens 

 each, li* my swarms were in the condition of 

 Mr. A.'s, I would commence feeding early in 

 the spring, and I would feed all they would con- 

 sume, till they commenced gathering honey, and 

 then they would be in a condition to repay me 

 for all my trouble — for if you have bees of the 

 right age to gather honey, they will gather it if 

 there is any to be found. But, in feeding, I 

 should be careful not to feed so lavishly as to 

 have the bees store the surplus in the cells, and 

 then, further, I think I would be careful not to 



let them get into such a condition again. If I 

 am to feed bees at all, I prefer doing it in the 

 summer, rather than in the winter. And I want 

 my hive large enough in the breeding apart- 

 ment to contain, when filled with comb, honey 

 enough for any emergency. I would sooner 

 have too much than riot enough, for if I had too 

 much, I could easily convert it into bees and 

 comb, or empty it out with the honey-emptying 

 machine. We will suppose that I kept on stim- 

 ulating my bees after the honey-harvest was cue 

 off last season. I should either have had to feed 

 them large quantities, or they would have kepi 

 on breeding and consumed all their stores. 

 Then I should have had to feed all winter, and 

 again this spring, or let them starve. Thus 

 you will perceive that you must know how to 

 feed, and when to feed, or all your profits will 

 be used up in feed. Mr. Quinby, in his Mys- 

 teries of Bee-keeping, says that you may de- 

 stroy a swarm by feeding — that is, if you have 

 a swarm which has some honey on hand in the 

 spring, and commence feeding early, getting a 

 numerous brood on hand; and then cease feed- 

 ing before they can gather anything. A swarm 

 thus treated, or rather mal-treated, would starve; 

 whereas if it had been let alone it might have 

 become a profitable stock. I quote from recol- 

 lection, as the book is lent out. And what Mr. 

 Quinby says you will find pretty reliable. All 

 the fault I find with the book is he did not tell 

 us enough. But there it is again. There would 

 have been nothing left for the Bee Journal, if 

 he had told the whole. Mr. J. M. Price, in the 

 January number of the Bee Journal, says that 

 Gallup, by his own confession, does feed bees, 

 &c. In all probability I feed as little as any 

 practical beekeeper in the United States ; for I 

 hold that bees ought to be, and can be, so man- 

 aged as not to need feeding. In fact, bees ought 

 to be self sustaining ; and they will be, if pro- 

 perly managed ; and then, when there comes a 

 good season, we may expect profit. It will not 

 take all summer to pay for a dead horse. As I 

 said before, it is necessary to know how to feed, 

 when to feed, and what you are feeding for; and 

 then you can do as you please. Mr. A's bees 

 will be troubled with moths without number, 

 because he has so many weak swarms and so 

 much unguarded comb. Whereas, with B.'s 

 management, the moths will be, as No vice says, 

 "like angel's teeth and hen's visits" few and 

 far between. Because, if B. has a small swarm 

 it is a strong one, for, with his management, all 

 the combs they have are occupied with bees, at 

 all seasons when moths can work. I did not 

 find a moth of any description in my thirty -five 

 swarms last summer ; and there were swarms 

 only a short distance from me entirely destroyed 

 by the moth; and that, too, where the swarms 

 had good queens, for I examined them. If you 

 do not wish to follow B.'s method or manage- 

 ment, stick to the principle; for the principle is 

 correct, and the principle is what we are after. 

 A very small swarm of bees, in the right kind 

 of hive, and with the right management, can be 

 made into the very best of swarms. In the 

 management of bees there are certain princi- 

 ples that must always be kept in view. There 

 are a great many good methods; but those prin- 



