588 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



mits of expansion and of contraction, as 

 occasion demands, is desirable. 



Mention should be made of a hive of 

 quite different construction, a prominent 

 feature of which is this ease of contrac- 

 tion and expansion. It is the last hive 

 •which the late M. Quinby gave to the 

 public — the Quinby closed-end frame hive. 

 This hive is used with great success by 

 certain American bee keepers of long ex- 

 perience and whose apiaries are among 

 the largest in the world. 



Management in Swarming 

 Natural Swarming 



When a swarm is seen issuing or in the 

 air, the best thing to do is, in general, 

 simply to wait a bit. The weather is 

 usually rather warm then, and rushing 

 about to get tin pans, dinner gongs, 

 spraying outfits, etc., aside from its dis- 

 agreeableness, may get one so excited 

 and into such a perspiration as to unfit 

 him to do with the bees that which is 

 likely to be necessary a few minutes 

 later. The bees will probably gather in 

 a clump on a tree or bush near the apiary 

 and however formidable getting them in- 

 to the hive may at first seem, nothing 

 will be simpler than shaking them into 

 their new hive, or into a basket or box, 

 from which they may be poured in front 

 of the hive, just as one would pour out 

 a measure of wheat or beans. 



The securing of swarms can be made, 

 however, even simpler than this by hav- 

 ing the colonies placed several feet apart 

 on a smooth lawn or dooryard and clip- 

 ping one wing of each laying queen so 

 as to prevent her flyingi The prime or 

 first swarm from each hive is accom- 

 panied by the old queen, and if she be 

 clipped she will of course fall from the 

 alighting board to the ground and may be 

 secured in a cage. 



The parent colony removed to a new 

 stand a rod or more away will rarely 

 give a second swarm. But to make cer- 

 tain all queen cells except one may be 

 cut out four or five days after the issu- 

 ance of the first swarm. 



Each after-swarm (second, third, etc.), 

 it should be borne in mind, is accom- 

 panied by one or more unimpregnated 



queens, and these must not be clipped 

 until they have flown out and mated. The 

 regular deposition of eggs in worker cells 

 may nearl.v always be regarded as a safe 

 sign that mating has taken place. Eggs 

 will usually be found in such cells within 

 the first ten days of the queen's life. 



Prevention of Swarming 



Under the conditions most frequently 

 occurring — that is, where it is not prac- 

 ticable to be present at all times during 

 the swarming season, or where the de- 

 sired number of colonies has been at- 

 tained — a system of management is ad- 

 visable which in general contemplates the 

 prevention, insofar as possible, of the 

 issuance of swarms without at the same 

 time interfering with honey storing. The 

 paragraphs following on this subject are 

 taken from the department publication, 

 "The Honey Bee." 



The most commonly practiced and 

 easily applied preventive measure is that 

 of giving abundant room for storage of 

 honey. This to be effective should be given 

 early in the season, before the bees get 

 fairly into the swarming notion, and the 

 honey should be removed frequently, un- 

 less additional empty combs can be givea 

 in the case of colonies managed for ex- 

 tracted honey, while those storing in sec- 

 tions should be given additional supers 

 before those already on are completed. 

 With colonies run for comb honey it is 

 not so easy to keep down swarming as in 

 those run for extracted honey and kept 

 supplied with empty comb. Free ventila- 

 tion and shading of the hives as soon as 

 warm days come will also tend toward 

 prevention. Opening the hives once or 

 twice weekly and destroying all queen 

 cells that have been commenced will 

 check swarming for a time in many in- 

 stances, and is a plan which seems very 

 thorough and the most plausible of any 

 to beginners. But sometimes swarms is- 

 sue without waiting to form cells; it is 

 also very diflicult to find all cells with- 

 out shaking the bees from each comb in 

 succession, an operation which, besides 

 consuming much time, is very laborious 

 when supers have to be removed, and 

 greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. 



