THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



87 



cd, and it will result in the disorgauizii 

 tiou that produces s\varinini>-. In the 

 8])riBg, when the queen is laying but 

 little^ the brood nest is small. The 

 <3ueeu begins at a given point to lay; 

 first occupying a s))ot of about one and 

 one-half inches in diameter on each side 

 of one sheet of comb; then taking into 

 her circuit a point opi)Osite on each side 

 of the two adjoining sheets. Around 

 this centre she continues to lay, gradu- 

 ally enlarging the nest for twenty-one 

 da3's. At" the end of that time the 

 ^•oung bees produced from the first eggs 

 laid begin to emerge from the cells and 

 she returns to the centre to begin her 

 circuit anew, tilling each cell as it is va- 

 oatetL Around this brood nest the bees 

 fill the cells with bee-bread and outside 

 of that honey. ( Bees never deposit 

 bee-bread away from the neighborhood 

 of brood.) Thus a bi-ood nest is formed 

 and if nothing obstructs it, will extend 

 equally on all sides of the point at 

 which the queen began to la}', and as 

 the cells around it are filled with food, 

 when she again reaches the circumfer- 

 ence she finds her limits restricted. By 

 this time, honey is coming in freely and 

 she is stimulated to ])roduce more eggs 

 than she has cells to receive them ; the 

 perfect balance of the hive is destroyed 

 and preparations for swarming is the 

 result, and even though the colony 

 were located on the ceiling of this large 

 halL, they would swarm just as certain- 

 ly, for the queen Avould be as much 

 crowded as if she were in a small hive. 

 To questions asked, he said that the 

 remedy for this was to have a hive so 

 constructed that it will admit of push- 

 ing apart the frames, in the middle of 

 the brqod nest and inserting empty 

 sheets of comb, if early in the season, 

 but if the bees were in a condition to 

 make wax rapidly, then empty frames 

 were best, as the bees would fill them 

 with comb as fast as lieeded by the 

 queen. It is important that the insert- 

 ed frames, whether empty or with comb, 

 should be placed in the middle of the 

 brood nest, and not to one side, as the 

 queen w^ill thereby be induced to occupy 

 them solidl}' with eggs, and while she 

 is doing that, the bees emerging from 

 the cells in the comb forming the old 

 nest will be giving more rooin, and 



greater fecundity will be the result; 

 when, if the frames are inserted to one 

 side, she will be slow to occuj)}- it, and 

 before she can do so it will be filled 

 with bee bread and honey. 



When the queen has thus, at iiitei-- 

 vals, been given all the room she can 

 occup3', and all compactly together, it is 

 not probable that any further care will 

 be necessary to prevent swarming dur- 

 ing the honey season, provided, there 

 is enough room in the same chamber to 

 fui-nish room for the work of all the 

 bees she can produce. Room given in 

 boxes or top or side apartments will do 

 no good, for the bees will not work in 

 them freely, and whenever the brood 

 chamber is filled to tlji> ends, the bees 

 will double back on the brood nest, and, 

 as they find empty cells in it, will pack 

 them with pollen and honey, and in a 

 little while the brood nest will be re- 

 duced m size so that the queen will be 

 again crowded, and the swarming im- 

 pulse brought on from the disorganiza- 

 tion so produced. 



The hive should be of one story, and 

 long enough to be certain that it will 

 aftbrd sufficient room for the work of 

 the enormous colony of bees that will 

 soon result from such management. 

 B3' careful estimate he had found in a 

 single colony, so managed 170,000 bees. 

 In it there was no drone comb con- 

 structed during the season, and not a 

 drone was reared in it ; and, although 

 drone comb was placed in the brood 

 nest, the queen did not lay in it, but 

 the bees filled it with honey. 



An ordinary hive with a broad cham- 

 ber of 2,000 cubic inches capacity will 

 not accomodate exceeding 20,000 bees 

 with working room. Whenever it 

 much exceeds that number a swarm is 

 cast, regardless of the amount of room 

 there is in the top or side apartments. 

 For while there might be room for stor- 

 ing honey, the nursing bees and wax 

 producers would be crowded into the 

 brood chamber, and however large the 

 brood, nest may have been at first, it 

 will soon be filled with stores, particu- 

 larly bee-bread, and swarming is bound 

 to result. Even if the bees clo work in 

 the boxes and the wax-workers and 

 honey gatherers are drawn out of the 

 brood chamber, it leaves the hive in 



