658 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAJL. 



cells, as not being a sure way to prevent 

 after-swarms (Dut I destroy queen-cells 

 if I do not want them, as I hand over 

 the bare combs of brood and honey to 

 the nucleus hives, as heretofore de- 

 scribed), but for the control of prime 

 swarms in the absence of the apiarist, I 

 shall be very glad to hear of the very 

 best device known, whether it be a trap, 

 entrance-guard, or anything else. 



Mr. C. supposes I have 50 colonies 

 that I cannot, on account of other occu- 

 pations, be with every day, and asks 

 what way I think will be the best to pre- 

 vent worrying. I must say I do not 

 know, as I have always been with my 

 bees at swarming-time, or had some one 

 to attend to them for me. 



We are getting the two subjects mixed. 

 The prevention of after-swarms and the 

 control of prime swarms are two ques- 

 tions, according to my management. It 

 was my method of working the former 

 that was under discussion, and that I 

 was so interested in, and not the latter, 

 about which Mr. C. puts the above ques- 

 tion, and to which I plead ray ignorance, 

 and would like information on. I ask 

 which is best for that purpose — the en- 

 trance-guard of perforated zinc, or the 

 Alley trap, or any other way you know 

 of? 



Manistee, Mich. 



Tie Progress Maie in Bee-Culliire. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY C. W. DAYTON. 



As to whether it is best to use starters 

 or full sheets of foundation in the brood- 

 frames depends entirely upon circum- 

 stances. If one has more money than 

 bees, and wishes to devote the bees to 

 some other purpose than comb-building, 

 such as storing honey, or increase of 

 colonies, it may be the most satisfactory 

 if not the niost economy to buy founda- 

 tion. Foundation insures straight 

 worker-combs, but considering the cost 

 of the foundation, together with the 

 trouble of fastening it in the frames, I 

 am led to wonder if naturally-built 

 combs in a systematic manner are not in 

 the end the most economical of any. 



Nearly any set of foundation combs 

 are nearer perfection than any set of 

 naturally-built ones, but this does not 

 hinder the latter from being good enough 

 for practical work, or perhaps as good 

 as the price of honey, or the general 

 prosperity of the business, may afford. 

 In fact, a bee-keeping outfit might be 



purclutsed which would run the business 

 into the ground, as it were, when, on 

 the other hand, by using a cheap 

 smoker, cheap lumber, and unpainted 

 hives, or a home-made extractor, there 

 may be as much honey obtained, and a 

 neat profit remain. With these items 

 may be included letting the bees build 

 their own combs, and I prefer a strip of 

 foundation rather than the wood comb- 

 guides, both for economy and utility. 



Then in getting good natural combs 

 built out of swarming-time, requires a 

 skill which the inexperienced may not 

 possess, as there must be good queens, 

 some honey being gathered, but not very 

 much, and the empty frames must be 

 specially arranged in relation to the 

 condition of the brood-nest. It would 

 be a puzzle for nearly any beginner to 

 distinguish honey-gathering from rob- 

 bing, and it would also be impossible to 

 give a certain rule for putting these 

 empty frames in the hives, because we 

 would need to be on the spot to examine 

 each individual hive, and seldom do two 

 colonies need to be treated exactly the 

 same. Some colonies may receive three 

 empty frames, another two, and some 

 none at all, and still the one which re- 

 ceives none may appear to the inexperi- 

 enced as the colony to receive the most 

 frames, judging from the amount of 

 bees. Still a slow or old queen, or the 

 lack of industry of the bees, may cause 

 a bad job if the frames were put in. 

 Experience will enable one to see these 

 things by a glance. 



If old bee-keepers did not write of 

 such peculiarities which are encountered, 

 a learner would not know what to look 

 for, and after years of mistakes and 

 groping in the dark he may of himself 

 learn it from experience, and then per- 

 haps imagine that he has made a dis- 

 covery ; in fact, become much bolstered 

 up in his own acquisition of knowledge, 

 until all records in the bee-papers and 

 books are considered unworthy of his 

 notice, when in truth it is a measure of 

 his own ignorance. 



So to-day we find bee-keepers of ex- 

 perience not knowing of bee-escapes, or 

 perforated zinc, or reversible extractors. 

 Of course it is admitted that there have 

 been many inventions which might bet- 

 ter never have been heard of, but to re- 

 nounce all inventions and forsake the 

 instructive literature of the times, is to 

 go right back into the darkness of box- 

 hives and strained and chunk honey. 



Many bee-keepers progressed far 

 enoupfh to adopt movable combs and the 

 honey extractor. They constructed 

 hives after any fashion, and with the 



