8d southern bee culture 



the swarms and catch them would cost too much ; besides that it would often 

 be difficult to find somebody who could be depended on to do it carefully. 



The only way is to put queen-traps on all the hives during the swarm- 

 ing season. In order to obtain sufficient ventilation it is necessary to have the 

 entrances two inches hich by the whole width of the hive. The traps should 

 also be of the width of the hive, and sufficiently high. The drones must be 

 destroyed as fast as caught, because they obstruct the passing of the bees 

 through the zinc. It will not do to turn them outside, for they will congregate 

 on the traps and be in the way even worse than they were when inside. 



Clipping will not do at all in out-apiaries. A swarm issuing in the 

 absence of the apiarist will, if it has a cHpped queen, return to the parent 

 hive; but usually the queen is lost. Later on, a second swarm will issue 

 with a virgin and go to the woods unless the apiarist happens to be there 

 just at that particular time; and in the majority of cases he will not discover 

 it until the colony is practically ruined. 



The use of queen-traps does not necessarily prevent him from shaking 

 swarms or unqueening, or doing something to prevent or reduce swarming. 

 It is better to be on the safe, side, and be sure that no swarm will be lost. 



When I established my second apiary I took the bees from the other. I 

 shook them into wire-cloth cages, and carried them to the new place. I did 

 not move any hives or combs. 



Adrian Getaz, 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



UNITING BEES. 



Uniting .two or more weak colonies into one strong populous colony 

 previous to the honey-flow is quite an item when we keep bees for cents and 

 dollars. No one should keep bees scattered about in hives just for the sake 

 of saying that he has so many colonies of bees, for he has more money tied 

 up in bee-supplies than necessary, and it requires too much time to look after 

 these small swarms or weak colonies of bees, and then very often not get a 

 pound of surplus honey from them. This is not a satisfactory way to keep 

 bees; but if the weak colonies are united into strong ones, there will be 

 less money invested in supplies, and the time required to give the bees neces- 

 sary attention will be m^uch less. All colonies, being strong, will store a sur- 

 plus of honey, and bee-keeping will be in every respect more satisfactory. 

 If you are keeping bees as a side issue, and haven't much spare time to 

 give them you should adopt uniting them. The extra hives left empty from 

 uniting can be scraped or cleaned up to put new swarms in. Bees should be 

 united in early spring in order to get as much honey as possible during the 

 spring flow; then in the fall of the year, just before we put the bees up for 

 winter. 



When two or more colonies are united, all the queens will be killed but 

 one; and if you have no choice among the queens, just unite them and the 

 bees will make a choice and kill the others.' But if you have a choice among 



