466 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



sections, and I would be sure a short time 

 afterwards to find her at home in the brood- 

 nest, as intently attending to her domestic 

 duties as if nothing had happened. It all 

 devolves upon having the queen begin lay- 

 ing before the surplus department is 

 changed to the new swarm. 



I have had a good deal of experience not 

 only in hiving natural swarms in this way, 

 but also in drumming and shaking out 

 swarms upon empty frames, and buUding 

 up with feed after the season was over. 



I have done more or less of this experi- 

 mental work every year for a good many 

 years ; I say this only that you may know 

 that it is not theory I am giving you. 



I use a deep hive which might seem to 

 make some difference, but I very much 

 doubt if it does. 



I usually change the sections over on to 

 the new swarm if the bees are building 

 comb 24 hours after the swarm was hived. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



T agree with Mr. Boardman in every 

 particular. There is one point in his 

 management that differs from mine, 

 and that explains why I need excluders 

 and he does not. I transfer the supers 

 to the newly-hived swarm immediately 

 upon its being hived, and often in 20 

 minutes have the same bees back in the 

 supers at work again with that energy 

 that comes only from a newly-hived 

 swarm. Mr. Boardman says, and says 

 truly, that where a queen begins laying, 

 there she will continue, and in the same 

 way I have been led to believe that 

 where the bees begin storing their 

 honey, there will they continue to store 

 it. For this reason I wished them to put 

 their first-gathered honey in the supers. 



If supers are at once trans/erred to 

 the new hive, the bees will remove the 

 honey from some cells in the sections 

 that are the farthest from completion, 

 and the queen will occupy them. As 

 many cells as the bees can empty, she 

 will fill. After comb-building has pro- 

 gressed somewhat in the brood-nest, she 

 will likely go down there, but not until 

 the majority of the unsealed sections 

 have a patch of brood in their centers. 

 As Mr. Boardman says, I have experi- 

 mented in this direction until I know 

 what I am talking about. If one or two 

 combs are placed in the brood-nest at 

 the time of hiving the swarm, the queen 

 will begin work in them, and a queen- 

 excluder is not needed. This I know 

 from experience. 



When I hive bees in the production of 

 comb honey, I contract the brood-nest, 

 that the choicest of the crop may not be 

 stored in a large brood-nest instead of 

 the sections. When the brood-nest is 

 contracted, the supers are needed to give 

 the swarm room. If they are crowded 



too much they are likely to swarm out. 

 Of course, room might be given them 

 until the supers were added. I do not 

 know whether Mr. Boardman practices 

 contraction. 



If there is no loss occasioned by al- 

 lowing the bees to work for a day or two 

 in the brood-nest, and then giving them 

 the sections, if a sufficient start can be 

 secured in the brood-nest to retain the 

 queen, if this can be done without any 

 danger of swarming-out, unless there is 

 considerable manipulation, then I see no 

 use for queen-excluders in comb honey 

 production. 



I shall be glad to know if Mr. Board- 

 man, or any one, has experimented suf- 

 ficiently to know whether anything is 

 lost by keeping the bees of a newly- 

 hived swarm out of the sections for a 

 day or two. If there is no loss, and too 

 much manipulation is not needed to pre- 

 vent swarming-out when contraction is 

 practiced, then, as I have just said, ex- 

 cluders are not needed. 



I do not know as there is anything 

 objectionable in an excluder, aside from 

 its cost, and as a honey-board is needed 

 any way, the extra expense needed to 

 make it queen-excluding is not very 

 great. I certainly should not wish to 

 do any great amount of manipulation to 

 save this expense. 



Flint, Mich. 



Alsike Clover — Its Value for 

 Fodder and Bee-Forage. 



Written lor the American Bee Journal 



BY L. F. ABBOTT. 



The inquiry regarding Alsike clover, 

 on page 396, prompts me to write a 

 few words regarding Its cultivation and 

 value. 



Unlike most other clovers, Alsike is a 

 perennial plant, partaking in this par- 

 ticular of the nature of the white or 

 Dutch variety, it being asserted that Al- 

 sike is a cross of the Dutch and red or 

 peavine clovers, hence its technical 

 name, Trifolium hybridum. 



Having had some experience in grow- 

 ing this clover, I can heartily recom- 

 mend it, both as a fodder plant and for 

 becrforage. Generally speaking, it will 

 not yield so large a crop of hay as the 

 larger variety, yet its value in this direc- 

 tion is fully equal when sown on soil 

 adapted to its growth. This is by rea- 

 son of its finer stem and branching 

 quality, and profuse bloom. Cut for hay 

 when its blossoms have begun to brown» 



