540 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



ed larva?; put it in a hivo filled out with empty 

 combs or frames of Idn. Move the old hive off, and 

 put the new one in its place. Of course, the new 

 hive will catch all the tlyinjr l>ees— or else it won't. 

 I have known nearly all of them to remain with the 

 old stock. Over half the time the old colony will 

 swarm some later, unless I weaken them down so 

 that they Avill do mo no good during: the season; 

 while the artificial colony will often loaf in an al- 

 most empty brood-chamber until the queen is 

 hatched and laying. Every time I tried that plan 

 this year I failed. 



PLANS OF MY OWN. 



I have tried moving the queen and one or more 

 frames to some other location. The bees left in 

 this queenless colony do nothing but build queen- 

 cells, and proceed to swarm as they hatch, pro- 

 viding I do not destroy the cells after the larv;i? 

 arc all sealed up. 



I tried the following expedient with several 

 stands last year: I removed the supers, took out 

 six of the eight frames, gave them two or three 

 shakes, set them with the few bees still adhering in 

 a new hive, and moved them ott' to a new location. 

 I put one of the remaining frames in each side of 

 the hive, filled up with frames containing starters, 

 and put on the supers again. Everyone of them 

 swarmed soon afterwtu-d. I took out the old 

 frames of brood, putting frames of fdn. in their 

 places, and put the swarms back. Two of those 

 came out afterward, leaving eggs and brood, and 

 scarcely a bee to take care of the poor helpless in- 

 fants. 



THE ABOVE PLAN WITH N.VTUHAL SWARMS. 



With several natural swarms I tried thus: I put a 

 frame of scaled or unsealed brood in each side of 

 a new hivo filled up with frames as above, hived 

 the swarm, set them on the old stand, and put on 

 the supers. All but two swarmed out again in 

 from two hours to eight days; and those two show- 

 ed signs of discontent lor three weeks afterward. 

 In all the above cases I had destroyed all queen- 

 cells. 



Again, last year I tried several times hiving a 

 swarm in a hive that had recently sent off a swarm. 

 Every one came out again in from three hours 

 to three days, except two that were thus hived 

 after the honey-iiow had ceased. From some of 

 these, by the way, I had removed about half the 

 frames. ^ 



I regard it as a significant fact, that out of some 

 30 swarms absconding thus, only two have ever left 

 the apiary. They always settle, and, when hived 

 more to their liking, go to work as busy as— bees. 



MAKING NEW COLONIES FllOM SEVEK.iL OTHEUS. 



Prof. Cook says, that by taking one or more 

 frames from several different colonies, and form- 

 ing now ones, he can allay the swarming im- 

 pulse. I do not know that the plan has ever suc- 

 ceeded with me, while I do know that it has failed 

 a number of times. 



SW.\1<M1NG IN MAY. 



1 intended to make several artificial swarms, and 

 form nuclei in May last year, but 1 was disappoint- 

 ed in not getting the queens I Avanted in time. 1 

 did swarm two toward the last of the month, great- 

 ly weakening the stocks containing the old queens. 

 They both swarmed about a month later. 



WHAT DOKS IT ALL MEAN ? 



If the above array of facts means any thing, it 



means that bees want to swarm; and that when 

 they d'l, they want to set up housekeeping anew. 

 After-swarms are more apt to stay when hived on 

 frames of brood; but even they will loaf until the 

 queen gets to laying. 



NEW SWAH.MS DO NOT OBJECT TO HONEY. 



While T say that bees want to go to housekeeping 

 anew, I have never yet seen any indication that 

 they object to a lot of honey in the upper story. 

 My b(?rs do not swarm until they hare begun to 

 store honey considerably. I always put on sections 

 as soon as honey begins to come in plentifully. 

 Last year I hived my swarms in new liives on new 

 stands, leaving the half-tilled boxes on the old 

 stand, hoping that they would jircvent after-swarm- 

 ing, but they never did. Following Heddon's 

 teaching I put the surplus arrangements on ihc 

 new hive and set the hive on the old stand. They 

 go right to work in them, as if nothing had happen- 

 ed. 



WHY MY BEES MUST SWAIIM DLBING THE HONEY- 

 HAItVEST. 



My experience convinces me that Mr. Doolittle's 

 method of artificial swarming will i^ot work hero. 

 His harvest comes in .Inly. He has all of June to 

 build up and do his swarming, and well may ho 

 make three colonies out of two within a Aveek be- 

 fore that season sets in. But here, swarming and 

 honey seasons come alike in June. Our vernal sea- 

 son is generally cool and backward of late years. I 

 have never yet had a good yield from fruit- 

 bloom; consequently, something like the horse 

 that is l)lind in one ej'c and can not sec out of the 

 other, one-half of my bees diminish and the other 

 half do not increase. That is a little stretched, 

 however. About June .5th, white clover begins to 

 yield copiously. Possibly one-third arc strong- 

 enough to swarm in the next ten days. The rest 

 will swarm all the way from June 15 to July 15. 

 They take their time to it; but nwann thcj) will, and 

 don't you forget it. They do not quit when honey 

 quits. Now, I do not give it up. I have already 

 planned to do some artificial swarming this year, 

 and I hope to meet with some success. But, so far 

 as I have learned by experience, I see no way to do 

 but to let them swarm. 



OVEKUULING. 



But if we can not prevent vre can overrule 

 swarming. This is what I mean by overrule: 

 Hivo your swarm; put on supers, whether you had 

 them on the old hive or not; set the hive on the 

 old stand. Take the combs aiad remaining bees from 

 the parent colony and unite them with one, two, 

 or half a dozen weaker colonies, according to their 

 strength. Work them so that the rapidly hatching 

 brood will soon have those weak colonies booming, 

 and put on supers at once. I have several colonies 

 at work by this means that otherwise would have 

 done me no good at all. I think the plan preferable 

 to Mr. Doolittle's plan of uniting weak colonics be- 

 fore the honey-harvest, at least in this locality. 



Mechanicsburg, 111. Geo. F. Bobbins. 



Friend 11., after you have tested these 

 plans through a longer term of years, I think 

 you will tind that, as a rule, in many seasons 

 you will succeed better. Your bees seem to 

 have had a sort of swarming mania; and 

 when they go at it in that way, I have often- 

 times thought it was best to let them swarm. 

 Where I was very anxious to have them fin- 

 ish U l^et of boxes, 1 have sticceeded by re- 



