110 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



should be clone with as as little noise or dis- 

 turbances as possible. 



4. Management from spring to fall pasturage. 

 The first requisite alike in honey producing 



and stock increasing colonies is to promote 

 brooding ; and this we do by resorting to 

 stimulative feeding. If extensive brooding has 

 ah-cady drawn heavily on the stores of the hive, 

 and these are still rapidly diminishing, we fur- 

 nish them first, if possible, of all, with additional 

 supplies of honey in the comb, selecting such 

 comb, if any, which have large intermixture of 

 pollen, and in default of the latter we supply 

 them with unbolted rye-meal. 



With the increase of brood, as the weather 

 grows warmer, enlargement of the room for the 

 accommodation of the colony becomes neces- 

 sary, especially in the case of those designed 

 forlioncy producers. If this enlargement be 

 effected at the proper time, the disposition to 

 swarm will not be likely to arise. But in the 

 case of colonies intended for the multiplication 

 of stock, enlargement must take place at a much 

 later period, if, indeed, it be required at all. To 

 the former, empty worker combs should be 

 given when the room is enlarged, and again at 

 ithe opening of spring pasturage. And if the 

 colony has become so populous tliat access to 

 the surplus honey receptacles must be given, 

 we supply these also with empty combs, using 

 drone combs by preference, if we have any. 

 The multiplying colonies Ave treat differently. 

 When enlarging their brooding space, we 

 seldom give them entire combs, unless we have 

 some fine and fresh, preferring to give them 

 frames furnished with strips of guide combs 

 only. These will be speedily extended and 

 supplied with eggs. Additional comb is, of 

 course, not to be introduced in any case till the 

 bees arc sufficiently iiumerous to be able to 

 cover them completely. 



5. Management during full pasturage. 

 When this period arrives, we change our 



treatment of the honey-producing colonies, so as 

 to give them, besides entire empty combs, some 

 fraines also, with rudimental guide pieces, and 

 indulge their comb-building propensity with 

 lull latitude. If they build drone comb, and 

 the queen supplies them with eggs, we at once 

 transfer them to the surplus honey receptacles, 

 where the eggs and laryaj will be quickly dis- 

 lodged by the workers, 'and the cells filled with 

 honey. 



If the multiplying colonies have been pre- 

 viously properly managed, they will be in a 

 condition to bear division at the time when full 

 ])asturage opens. But how is this to be known ? 

 We may, indeed, describe it prettv^ accuratelj^, 

 but still it requires practice and experience to 

 endow the bee-keeper Avith prompt decisive 

 iudgmont. The chief indications are these : 

 The colony must be populous and contain an 

 abundance of brood; and the drone brood must 

 be so far matured at least that some individuals 

 are ready to emerge. 



To describe in detail the various processes 

 adopted or reconmiended for the formation of 

 artificial colonies, would be a Avearisome task, 

 uncalled for at this season. We content our- 



selves with observing that whether tlie colony 

 be formed with or without a queen, care must 

 iuA'ariably be taken that the parent stock as 

 Avell as the .young colony possesses, as regards 

 both bees and stores, the requisite means of 

 securing its further development and ultimate 

 prosperity. This is equally essential also in 

 the case of later colonies formed perhaps ten 

 days after from some of the honey -producing 

 stocks. If, under peculiar circumstances, or 

 from special causes, it be impracticable to com- 

 mence forming artificial colonies at the opening 

 of full pasturage, it must still be done, if to be 

 done at all, before the culminating period of the 

 gathering season has arrived; and similar pre- 

 cautions are to be used as those already described. 

 Colonies which are rearing young queens are 

 to be carefully watched fourteen days after they 

 Avere formed, to ascertain whether the C[ueen has 

 become fertile. If this is not the case, or the 

 queen has been lost, the colony must be sup- 

 plied Avith another, or supplied with the means 

 of raising one as soon as possible. 



At the height of the gathering season we 

 make another change in our treatment of the 

 honey-producing colonies. In favorable years, 

 with abundant pasturage, the honey stocks Avill 

 naturally restrict brooding soon after the cul- 

 minating point of the gathering season is 

 reached, for the cells are mostly filled with 

 honej^, fcAV remaining in which the queen can 

 deposit eggs. But should this not be so, 

 especially in unfavorable j^ears, then repression 

 of brooding must be effected by artificial means, 

 as being indispensably required. We recom- 

 mend, as the best means of effecting this, the 

 formation of small nuclei, by transferring from 

 the honey stock to a small hiA'e, one or more 

 brood combs, together with the queen. 



6. Management at the close of full pasturage. 



In good houej^-yielding years this is an easy 

 matter. The multiplying slocks and the arti- 

 ficial colonics Avill luiA^e procured their supplies 

 for the Avinter, and may, moreover, have some- 

 Avhat to spare, and the honey stocks yield an 

 ample harA^est. 



In unfavorable years Ave liaA^e to apportion 

 the supply of honey on hand, the surplus stores 

 namely of the honey-producing stocks, among 

 the tAvo other classes— the multiplying stocks 

 and the artificial colonies — if the apiary is to 

 remain enlarged. But it' this is not the case — 

 if the apiary already contains the normal 

 number of stocks of which Ave design it shall 

 consist, some Avill haA'c to be broken up, and 

 there Avill thus remain a surplus Avhich may be 

 appropriated ; and the point is, hoAV to do this 

 judiciously. The younger and more fertile 

 queens of the colonies to be broken up are given 

 to those intended to be multiplying stocks in 

 the ensuing year, and the bees are in like man- 

 ner distributed among them as directed in the 

 first section. This leaves the honey and combfi 

 for our own use. 



We will now describe our present mode oi 

 introducing queens: 



We remove the queen of the colony to Avhich 

 one is to be giA'cn, and eight or ten days after- 

 wards destroy all the queen cells, and immedi- 

 ately give them the queen, unless Ave perceive 



