Oct. If., 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



665 



thorough pollination except we have apiaries in the near 

 vicinity. I have known several cases of bees workinfj in 

 holes in the jjround the pre.sent year. Such would seem very 

 poor hive.s. Have others noticed this ? 



l.NTKRKSTINC. I.KCTUKK. 



Prof. Fletcher, late of the Washington Agricultural 

 College, has perhaps given the most extended and intelli- 

 gent study to the matter of pollination of flowers that has 

 been given by anybody in our country, certainly if we ex- 

 cept Prof. Waite, of the Department of Agriculture. His 

 bulletin on this subject would be a proud monument to any 

 scientist. He was with nie at three of our late institutes. 

 I have never heard the value of bees as pollinators, more 

 extolled than they are by Prof. Fletcher. He is soon to 

 leave this coast for the East. It is greatly to be regretted 

 that we cannot keep him among us. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



The Prevention of Natural Swarming. 



BY (. . I'. IlADANT. 



SINCE my article on the prevention of increase by re- 

 turning swarms to the parent hive has been published, 

 I have had a number of enquiries from bee-keepers as to 

 the best method of preventing the bees from swarming. 

 One gentleman in particular says that it is very well to 

 keep down increase by that method, but that it only an- 

 swers a part of the purpose, as there is all the labor at- 

 tached to this method that would have to be performed if 

 one wanted increase. He therefore thinks that this method 

 of prevention of increase is lame in its main feature. 



I agree to this, and for the benefit of this person and 

 others, I will give our method for the prevention of natural 

 swarming, which we have found successful in an extensive 

 practice of many years on hundreds of colonies. This 

 method has already often been mentioned in the American 

 Bee Journal. 



I must begin by saying that it is out of the question to 

 find an infallible preventive for swarming. With the very 

 best management, we must expect from 5 to 10 percent of 

 swarming each year. But the number of swarms harvested 

 by us in 30 years or more of this practice has not been suffi- 

 cient to keep up the number of colonies in an apiary at the 

 same point, and we have had to resort to artificial increase 

 or by division. This is in itself a very clear proof that our 

 method is successful — as successful, probably, as can be ex- 

 pected of any method that interferes with the natural ways 

 of Nature. 



Swarming is very much like emigrating among the hu- 

 man race — caused by a feeling of discomfort — the popula- 

 tion of the hive becoming too great for the space at their 

 disposal. Hence, small hives cause more swarming than 

 large ones. For that reason, and many others, we have al- 

 ways favored a very large hive — a hive capable of accom- 

 modating the queen in her brood-rearing and the worker- 

 bees in their honey harvest. 



Our hive, which is nearly one-half larger than an ordi- 

 nary Sframe Langstroth hive, is arranged for half-story 

 supers of which one, two, or more, may be used at one time. 

 We put these supers on the hive with frames full of comb, 

 saved by extracting the honey the previous season, and 

 keep adding room in the shape of empty combs from time 

 to time during the entire harvest. When the harvest is 

 over we extract the honey and return all these combs to the 

 bees to be cleaned up for another season. During the win- 

 ter these combs are put away to be used again the follow- 

 ing year. Thus we have used combs for 25 years, one sea- 

 son after another, for producing extracted honey, and an 

 almost total prevention of swarming has been the result. 



But plenty of space is not the only desideratum for the 

 prevention of natural swarming. We must also have other 

 conveniences to make the bees comfortable. 



The hive must be well sheltered from the direct rays of 

 the sun. A colony of bees in the busy season is usually 

 overflowing with inhabitants ; they hatch daily by thou- 

 sands, and although there is also a regular daily loss of 

 bees from accidents and the natural wearing out of an in- 

 sect which is everlastingly at work and on the wing, yet 

 the numbers in the hive increase to such an extent that it 

 is quite difficult for them to keep the interior of the hive 

 well ventilated. If you watch a populous hive of bees on a 

 warm day, and even at night in hot weather, you will see a 

 file of bees ranged in front of the opening, fanning the en- 



trance by a rapid motion of their wings with an incessant 

 roar. The.se bees are forcing a current of air from one end 

 of the hive to the other. Their work is indispen.sable, for 

 its cessation only during a few minutes, when the ther- 

 mometer registers 100" in the shade, means the raising of 

 the inner temperature of the hive to an unsafe point, when 

 the combs are liable to break down, owing to the heat and 

 the weight of the honey combined. 



Exposure of the hive to the direct rays of the sun in- 

 creases the danger and makes it more imperative for the 

 bees to send out a swarm. Thus the able-bodied members 

 of the hive accompanied by the queen leave for a new 

 abode, allowing the young bees to remain and rear a queen. 

 Usually the preparations for emigration are begun several 

 days ahead, by the rearing of queen-cells, and, when the 

 bees leave, the young queen is about to hatch. These prep- 

 arations, when once made, are likely to be followed by an 

 exodus, even if the apiarist has changed the conditions by 

 enlarging the hive, giving it empty combs, more ventila- 

 tion, or more shelter. It is therefore advisable to make the 

 necessary changes for the accommodation of the increasing 

 numbers several days ahead of the need. 



As soon as the honey harvest comes, the entrance of 

 the hive, if the colony is strong, should be enlarged to its 

 fullest capacity ; a hive should never be allowed to stand in 

 a position that will compel its bees tocluster on the outside. 

 The fact of their clustering in that way is an evidence of 

 their ill-comfort, and unless the season is poor, or the crop 

 nothing, it is a good indication of their intention to swarm. 

 It is true that many colonies cluster thus and yet do not 

 swarm, but this isonlv owing to adverse circumstances. 



A great number of drones is also a very frequent cause 

 of swarming. These burly, idle fellows, which are reared 

 by the thousand to provide for the reproduction of the bees 

 by the fertilization of young queens, are very much in the 

 way. They are noisy, cumbersome and lazy, and a colony 

 which is well stocked with them, and otherwise crowded, 

 will swarm more readily than one in which the drones are 

 missing. 



There are then three or four absolute requirements for 

 the prevention or diminution of natural swarming, viz.: 



A large hive capable of accommodating the most pro- 

 lific queen. 



Enough surplus combs to receive the crop of the work- 

 ers as they bring honey home from the field. 



Plenty of ventilation, enabling the bees to work com- 

 fortably inside the hive at all hours. ~^ 



Shelter against the rays of the sun during thejhot 

 hours of the day. 



Lastly, a removal of the drone-combs, replacing them 

 with worker-combs in the brood-chamber, early in the sea- 

 son. 



As a matter of course all these requirements are more 

 complied with in the management of an apiary for extracted 

 honey, but even when producing comb honey the apiarist can 

 readily see that these requirements, if complied with, will 

 diminish the number of natural swarms, while if the matter 

 is neglected the number of the swarms will be in direct 

 ratio to the greater inconvenience to which bees will be sub- 

 mitted while the harvest lasts. Hamilton Co., 111. 



y»&jVj4.>v>!%.j^Vj^:;ai%^>!UiV»v>vjiV}v>iViiViaviiVjiVK 



^ The Afterthought. 



^ 



«N"T;?T!r>'fT!rwT'r*fT*TrT'r>r>r*?T'fT'rir'>an?r' 



The 



'Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Ql&ssea. 

 By B. E. HASTY. Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



" GOING FOR '" THE ODEEN-BRSEDERS. 



Shall we call him by name when a particular breeder's 

 queens do not come up to our mark ? We are not alloiued 

 to call names much in praise — that's "commercial," free 

 advertising — and one would fain have rules v^ork both 

 ways. On the other hand, scolding indefinitely about the 

 poor quality of queens conveys the impression that it must 

 mean the small fry, and not the most prominent men. Bad 

 to waste good ammunition in that way — and isn't it wrong 

 to increase the difficulties in the worthy small operator's 

 path ? So if we have any Davids, young or old, looks like 

 we had better let them name their Goliaths. But, then, 

 Goliath will in return throw his spear. •' which is like a 



