i8o 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



pollen, there is nothing to be gained in 

 taking out some of these combs and put- 

 ting in dummies. If the brood rest is 

 full when the honey comes, the surplus 

 must go into the supers. I am at a loss 

 to conceive where, when, how or why 

 there could have been conjured up the 

 idea of contracting the brood nest of an 

 established colony in the spring or be- 

 fore the opening of the harvest. There 

 is ouly one instance in which I could 

 think it advisable. If a colony were weak 

 in numbers, and the harvest alread}' pres- 

 ent, and it was thought advisable to se- 

 cure some comb honey from that colony 

 at all hazards, then a taking out of the 

 occupied, or partly occupied combs and 

 putting dummies in their places would 

 force the bees into the sections; but with 

 colonies in which the brood nest is full 

 of bees, honey and brood, contraction of 

 the orood nest is wholly unnecessary. 



Contraction of the brood nest in hiving 

 swarms when working for comb honey 

 is an entirely different thing; and when 

 practiced intelligently ■ in the right lo- 

 cality is a most important factor in se- 

 curing a crop of honey. Here in Mich- 

 igan, and similar localities, the surplus 

 white honey is gathered in a short period 

 — never extending over six weeks; usu- 

 ally lasting only a month; and and some- 

 times the main harvest is all gathered in- 

 side of two weeks. Then comes a period 

 of a month or six weeks in which no hon- 

 ey is gathered; this being followed by 

 buckwheat or fall flowers in some locali- 

 ties. In some localities, like the one in 

 which I am now situated, white clover 

 furnishes the only surplus. Years ago, 

 in localities similar to mine, when con- 

 traction of the brood nest in hiving 

 swarms, and several other "wrinkles" 

 were unknown, how often we heard even 

 the veterans lamenting the issuing 

 of swarms, because, they said, with 

 the swarm went all hopes of surplus. 

 As the business was then conducted there 

 were good grounds for lamentations. The 

 management was about as follows: The 

 swarm would be put into a ten-frame 



hive, and no supers put on until the hive 

 was filled. If they were put on they 

 would not be occupied until the lower 

 hive was filled, and by the time this was 

 accomplished it usually happened that 

 the white honey harvest was passed. If 

 the old colony did not swarm ( usually it 

 did) some return might be expected from 

 that, unless the season was nearly 0\rer. 

 If a colon}' is in condition to begin work 

 in the supers at the opening of the white 

 honey harvest, and continues faithfully 

 at work without swarming, as I have al- 

 ready said, no contraction is needed; but, 

 suppose the harvest is half over, the bees 

 working nicely in the supers, there may 

 be one case of sections nearly ready to 

 come off, another two-thirds finished, 

 and a third in which the work has only 

 nicely commenced; now the colony 

 swarms. What shall be done? By hiving 

 the swarm in a contracted brood chamber, 

 upon the old stand, transferring the su- 

 pers to the newly hived swarm, and prac- 

 ticing the Heddon method of preventing 

 after-swarming, work will be resumed 

 and continued in the supers without in- 

 terruption, and the surplus will be nearly 

 as great as though no swarming had tak- 

 en place. In brief, contraction of the 

 brood nest, coupled with the plan of put- 

 ting the swarm on the old stand and prac- 

 ticing the Heddon method of preventing 

 after-swarming, enables us to throw the 

 whole working force into the super just 

 at the critical time, and secure a crop of 

 white honey that would otherwise have 

 been stored in the brood nest or used in 

 the rearing of bees that would have come 

 upon the stage of action when about the 

 only thing that they could do would be 

 to hang on the shady side of the hive. 

 We all know that white honey brings a 

 higher price that does the dark honey 

 gathered in the fall; while the latter, un- 

 less it may be in some few special in- 

 stances, is equally as good for winter 

 stores. The contraction of the brood 

 nest in hiving swarms puts this white 

 honey in the market and the cheaper 

 grades in the hive for winter. 



