196 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



July 



garding the beueficial effect of ven- 

 tilation upon paralysis and spring 

 dwindling, it will find few if any 

 supporters among men of experience. 

 In the case of dysentery, w^hich effects 

 bees only during winter confinement, 

 a vpry slight ventilation, combirked 

 with an absorbant to arrest the hu- 

 midity, is all that is essential, accord- 

 ing to the general experience of suc- 

 cessful bee keepers. Experience alone 

 can determine for us individually, 

 not only the uses and value of ven- 

 tilation and heat retention, but the 

 point at which each ceases to be a 

 benefit, and becomes a positive de- 

 triment to the wellbeing of the colony. 

 Spruce Bluff, Fla. 



Natural or Artificial Increase. 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



A reader of The American Bee 

 Keeper desires me to give my ex- 

 perience on the above topic through 

 the columns of The Bee Keeper. 

 Well to tell the truth I have had very 

 little swarming for a number of years. 

 I have some three-hundred colonies, 

 and many neighboring bee-keepers 

 when they call at my apiaries, think 

 that I surely must have an immense 

 lot of swarms from the number of 

 colonies and from the roar the bees 

 make on the wing; but pretty nearly 

 all ray bees are used in queen rear- 

 ing, and they are divided up into 

 nuclei to such an CKtent that they 

 rarely think of swarming. Years ago 

 when 1 was producing honey, I prac- 

 ticed both natural and artificial in- 

 crease and could not see a great deal 

 of difference in results, but believe 

 if anything the^natural swarms gave 

 a little the best results. They ap- 



peared to start in ynove in earnest 

 from the start. To divide a colony is 

 right if done at the right time and in 

 the right way, but unless you have 

 had considerable experience with 

 bees, you had better allow them to 

 swarm naturally. You see in a nat- 

 ural swarm there are bees of all ages, 

 both young and old. The bees are in 

 condition to go right to work building 

 comb. Now unless you know some- 

 thing about bees you are liable to 

 make a division whfn they are not at 

 all in condition to produce wax, build 

 comb, etc. To my mind any kind of 

 a division is all right, where you get - 

 the bees divided very nearly as in ■ 

 natural swarming. If I were now 

 producing honey I believe I w^ould 

 allow my bees to swarm naturally, 

 but I would surely clip all my queens. 

 In this way I might loose a few 

 queens during a season, but hardly 

 any swarms. At any rate if you try 

 dividing and you allow your bees to 

 rear their own queens, or in, other 

 words if you are not intending to 

 supply them with laying queens, you 

 should have queen cells nearly ready ■ 

 to hatch; so that the queenless por- 

 tion may have a young queen within 

 two or three days after the division is 

 made. By this method you will in a 

 short time have a laying queen in 

 both colonies. 

 Hteeleville, 111. 



Apis Dorsata, 



PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL .TAMES. 



"Which I wish to remark, 

 And my language is plain. 



Thai for ways that are dark, 

 And for tricks that are vain, 



Some bee keepers are peculiar, 

 Which the same I would rise to 

 explain.' 



An attempt to domesticate apis dor- 

 sata in its native land by missionaries, 



f 



