SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE $5 



begins to tear up his strong and vigorous colonies of bees; for it would 

 require constant and intelligent attention, and heavy feeding would have to be 

 resorted to, if any surplus honey could be expected from them; for it must be 

 remembered that all increase is made at the expense of the honey crop. 



If a bee-keeper will practice natural increase, and give his bees the nec- 

 essary attention, and lose no colonies, by neglect, his bee business will soon 

 be running over him, and he will have bees to sell if he does not care to 

 spread his business out over the country. Besides, he will save large crops of 

 honey in good seasons. 



Of course, where natural swarming is practiced the apiaries require close 

 attention during swarming time, which is only a short time each year, and 

 only through the middle of each day. 



By keeping the colonies strong and giving them only a limited amount 

 of storing room, they will naturally swarm more than they otherwise would. 

 If only a very moderate natural increase is desired, give the bees ample 

 storing room, and elevate the hives from the bottom-board about % inch 

 all around. This will give the bees more ventilation, and lessen their desire 

 to swarm; but hives should not be ventilated until the bees begin to lie 

 out on the front of the hive. 



There is another way to have only a moderate natural increase from the 

 bees; and that is, to run some colonies for extracted honey, some for comb, 

 and some for chunk honey. So natural increase can be governed nearly to 

 suit any bee-keeper, and it is a good and safe way for the amateur bee- 

 keeper to increase the size of his apiary, and he at the same time will obtain 

 satisfactory results in honey and bees. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



Artificial increase is man's way of swarming bees. If a bee-keeper has 

 plenty of young prolific queens available, and does not mind the expense of 

 feeding his bees, he can do wonders along the line of increasing his bees 

 artificially if at the same time he does not mind to hustle. There are many 

 ways to do this ; but I must stay on the economic side of bee-keeping and 

 let the bees pay their way as they increase, and not swarm nor increase them 

 excessively, for it is unwise and imprudent to do it for pleasure or money; 

 for we should be satisfied with a reasonable amount of increase. In most 

 sections in the South we have light honey-flows during .the season, and in some 

 sections the main flow comes in early spring, and other sections during 

 summer; and it comes during fall in some sections. We should not let our 

 artificial increase interfere with the main honey-flow any more than possible ; 

 and if it comes in early spring, make the increase after the flow, for there 

 will be light honey-flows to follow, and if it comes in summer or fall, make 

 the desired increase as early in the spring as possible. 



If the main honey-flow comes in spring, keep all the bees together and 

 save as much honey as possible ; and as soon as you get it on the market, 

 turn your attention to the increase by first preparing an extra hive for each 

 strong colony, using full sheets of foundation in brood- frames ; or if you 



