24 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Feb. 



by the prevention of swarming has 

 been discussed at great length, but the 

 disputants have in most instances 

 overlooked a most important factor, 

 that of location, or, to be more exact, 

 the time and duration of the honey 

 flow. In those localities where the 

 flow is early and short, as is often the 

 case at the North, there is not time in 

 which to bring the colonies up to the 

 swarming pitch, allow them to swarm, 

 and then wait for the old colony to 

 build up into working condition. To 

 secure the best results, every means 

 possible must be used to foster and 

 build up the strength of the colonies, 

 that they may be ready for the early 

 harvest ; and when it comes, best re- 

 sults are secured if the bees attend 

 strictly to the work of storing the sur- 

 plus, and let swarming alone. 



In those localities blessed with a 

 continuous flow, or where there is a 

 late harvest, better results are obtain- 

 ed by allowing at least one swarm 

 from each colony, as there is time for 

 both the parent colony and the swarm 

 to get themselves into good condition 

 for the later yields, when there are 

 two colonies instead of one to gather 

 the nectar. If the locality is over- 

 stocked, this brings in another factor, 

 and, in that case, swarming might be 

 undesirable. 



The decision in regard to the size of 

 the hives, or of the brood nest, also of 

 contraction of the brood nest, should 

 also be influenced by the locality. 

 With a short, early harvest, it is not 

 good management to use a hive so 

 large that the harvest is well past be- 

 fore the hive, or, rather, the brood 

 nest, is filled. In such a locality, the 

 small brood chamber hive comes out 



ahead, because it is so quickly filled 

 with bees, brood and honey, and the 

 bees are then ready for the sections 

 before the harvest is past. . 



Contracting the brood chamber of a 

 newly hived swarm is in the same line ; 

 it secures the work of the swarm in 

 the sections before the harvest is past. 

 In those localities where the flow of 

 honey lasts for months, or there is a 

 heavy fall flow, there is time to fill a 

 large brood nest and then put some 

 honey in the supers afterwards. In 

 other localities, if a swarm were given 

 a ten-frame L. hive as a brood nest, it 

 would do little more than fill the 

 brood nest ere the harvest would be 

 over. 



The man who understands his own 

 locality and the hives, implements 

 and management best suited to it 

 should not forget that there are other 

 localities to which his requirements 

 would not be adapted. — Bevieiv. 



BEES FROM A HORTICULTURAL STAND- 

 POINT. 



It is an old and true saying that 

 nothing was ever created without a 

 purpose. If we do not always discern 

 at first glance the purpose of the Cre- 

 ator, it is because we do not under- 

 stand His ways. 



The adaptation of means to ends is 

 beautifully illustrated in Nature. 

 Plants and animals are dependent up- 

 on each other for the highest develop- 

 ment of both, or either. Our nutri- 

 trious grasses illustrate this truth. 

 Bluegrass is only found in its perfec- 

 tion where cattle feed upon it and 

 spread its seeds in Nature's way. And 

 the noble short-horn is only possible 

 where such rich grasses abound. 



One of Nature's laws, which, like 



