SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 15 



colony has no brood or eggs; and if they, are not supplied with some eggs 

 from another colony, or a young queen is given them, they will go to 

 nothing, and the colony will be lost. Then, again, the bees m^y not super- 

 sede their mother, when she is old and failing, with another queen, think- 

 ing that, may be, she will do better until they dwindle down so low that 

 the bee-moth will destroy them unless the failure of their queen is detected 

 and she is killed and the colony supplied with another. So there can be no 

 question that bees need a guiding hand and culture; and if they have it, 

 great progress will be made in the industry. 



Now let us look into the culture and the progeny or race of this swarm 

 of bees as we have traced it and pointed out some of its needs to prolong 

 its existence; and mark too, that it was located in the brood-nest and could 

 not be supplied unless we had access to it; or, in other words, could take 

 the combs out one by one and examine them. So it is very necessary that 

 the swarm be hived in a modern hive, and that the comb be movable, or 

 their culture will be at an end, and the loss of them may be expected at any 

 time. Now that the swarm is in a modern hive with combs built and the 

 brood-nest established, it should never be lost as long as a good queen is 

 occupying it with plenty of stores around it; and, as previously explained, 

 this can easily be done by inserting combs of eggs and brood and queens 

 into it at these critical times of the colony; and to keep it in the best pos- 

 sible condition it must be constantly examined during the bees' working 

 season. In examining this brood-nest from time to time it should never 

 be allowed to be filled up with honey. Bees will often do this for lack of 

 room somewhere else to store their honey and crowd the queen out with 

 it or narrow it down to a very small space. Don't let this happen; and 

 should it happen, remove the honey at once and keep it large and in a 

 thriving condition— that is, full of eggs and young bees in all stages of 

 development during spring, summer, and fall. Nothing but a prolific queen 

 of any race of bees should be allowed in a colony of bees ; so the race of this 

 swarm of bees should be taken into consideration as soon as it is hived; 

 and if it is not of some leading honey-gathering variety a queen should be 

 ordered for it at once, for it does not pay to cultivate bees if they haven't 

 good qualities; and the results will never be satisfactory in cents and dol- 

 lars from the culture of a rundown or inferior race of bees; and this should 

 be kept in mind along as we give them culture and fresh blood added to the 

 apiary from time to time. 



MODERN APIARIES, BUT MODERN METHODS NOT APPLIED. 



There are many small apiaries scattered all over the South where modern 

 hives have been adopted but modern methods of apiary work have not been 

 applied. The bees in these hives are in various conditions, and the comb 

 built in various ways in them. Some bought the hives for the purpose of 



