260 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



than to hive new swarms upoii all full sheets of 

 foundation." He's I'ather got me there, for I 

 really don't know much about new swarms — 

 don't hive one a year. Still, if I did hive one, 

 and had to use full sheets or empty frames, I 

 believe I'd be so afraid of drone comb that I 

 would use full sheets (if I thought brother 

 Pratt wouldn't find it out). 



My thanks ai'e due Mr. S. Cornell for calling 

 my attention to an error of mine. I said Che- 

 shire denies that contaminated honey may be a 

 cause of propagation of foul brood (p. 1.56). I 

 was wi'ong. He says he has never, by the most 

 cai'eful search in the worst cases, found the 

 bacilli in the honey, and has discovered that it 

 is impossible for Imcilli to multiply in honey; 

 but he says, further on, that they "must occur 

 in honey as an occasional contamination." and, 

 still further, says, "My strong opinion is, that, 

 commonly, neither honey nor pollen carries the 

 disease, bnt that the feet and antennit of the 

 Ijees usually do." 



PNER^L Ot)RI^EgP0NDENCE. 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 



THE liFFECT OF I.AKGE BKOOI) - CHAMBEHS, 



EMPTY COMUS, AND THE ARTIFICIAL 



REARING OF QUEENS, fONSIDERED. 



On page 168, Mai'. 1, in answei' to C. W. Day- 

 ton. Ernest says: "An unlimited capacity is 

 quite apt to discourage, if not to prevent en- 

 tirely, all swarming. Neither Mr. E. France nor 

 the Dadants, who work on this latter princi- 

 ple, have swarming to any extent, and they do 

 get the honey, you know." Now, we may ad- 

 mit at the outset that contraction tends to 

 heighten, and expansion to lessen, the swarm- 

 ing instinct. Also, the facts concerning the 

 Messrs. Dadants and France are no doubt true. 

 But in drawing your conclusion I think you as- 

 sume too much. Are you sure there is no other 

 immediate cause to produce the effect? I think 

 th(M'e are two entities that conspire to pi'oduce 

 non-swarming, so far, at least, as the_^Dadants 

 are concerned.! > : ' '"^ 



WHY THE 1>AI )ANT BEES DON'T SWARM: NOT 

 LARGE HIVES, BUT RACE (}F BEES. 



One is, that they have di^veloped a rather 

 nou-swarming bee. The other is a secret that 

 I learned from Mr. J. M. llambaugh, whom I 

 met for the first time in Springlicld last Decem- 

 ber. We were discussing large hives, and 

 working for extracted honey, in connection 

 with the prevention of swarming. I referred to 

 the discussion of the causes of swarming, con- 

 ducted in Gleanings in 188'.). by Di'. Miller and 

 others. I wish you would look uj) the papers 

 on pp. 412, 444, .5.W. .581. When I gave the gist 

 of their views as outlined further on. Mi". Ham- 

 baugh acknowledged that they were about so. 

 I then asserted that plenty of surplus room 

 above, with sections all the way from empty to 

 nearly completed, even over a larg<> brood- 

 chamber, would not prevent swarming, as I had 

 often proven to my entire dissatisfaction. He 

 readily agreed that such was the case. How, 

 then, could the Dadants prevent swarming, as 

 they never extract from the lower slory? 

 Then it was that Mr. Hambaugh said the r(>a- 

 son, perhaps, was that their apiarist kept a 

 close watch, and. as soon as the bees began to 

 get a little crowded for room, he would raise 

 the super and clap on a box of emi)ty combs. I 

 said, " I suppose, then, the idea is. that an en- 

 tire sujjer of empty cells, ready lo rush the lion- 



ey into, keeps the bees occupied and satisfied, 

 keeps the honey out of the brood-combs so that 

 they never become crowded, and thus keep 

 down the swarming impulse." He I'eplied that 

 that was about it. 



Now, please do not conclude that I am as- 

 suming too much. Just wait till I get thi'ough. 

 Here are two pro])ositions, as I have given 

 them, worth thinking about, and I ask you to 

 please follow me as I briefly discuss them. Let 

 us see whether there is not a great deal more 

 than mere capacity involved in this subject. 



First, we must remai'k that, in simple terms, 

 it is natural for bees to swarm. It is nature's 

 plan to till the earth with bees. To bring 

 about swarming, the Author of nature has en- 

 acted certain laws. Here are some of her laws; 

 and, for the sake of brevity, I quote or adapt 

 from the series of papers 1 have mentioned, 

 without fuitliei' leference: 



" The swarming impulse is the general rest- 

 lessness of jnosperity and enterprise, and the 

 consciousne.ss of powers within, which are not 

 being fully occupied." The thing that most 

 induces swarming is a " turgid condition of the 

 vessels in the bee-anatomy in which are stoi'ed 

 the supplies for future brood-rearing." This 

 tui'gid condition is due to the fact that there is 

 an undue proportion of house-bees to brood re- 

 (piiring feed, caused by the bees storing honey 

 in the brood-nest. Meanwhile, this state of 

 things causes a check of egg-production, which 

 in turn causes the blood of the queen " to as- 

 sume a peculiarly enriched character" — inten- 

 sity, I should say. These are some of the con- 

 ditions that impel bees to swarm out — a sort of 

 hydraulic pressure. 



I cite these views because they appear to me 

 so evidently correct. If honey could be kept 

 out of the brood-nest, and leally allow the 

 queen unlimited capacity, this state of things 

 might not occur. But we know too well. that, 

 when honey is coming in to any great extent, if 

 there is no store room above, except as the bees 

 build combs they will store it in the combs be- 

 low—aye, and seal it up too. Who. that has 

 often examined a brood - chamber which a 

 swarm has lately left, has not generally found 

 a preponderance of sealed brood, freshly sealed 

 honey in the outskirts of the brood -nest, and 

 many cells, singly and in groups, amid cards of 

 S(^ak'd brood, tilled with honey"? This crowds 

 the lield-bees, and adds another eliMuent of dis- 

 content. It is altogether a cramming, ciowd- 

 ing. pushing, driving process. 



Now, don't you see where the value of empty 

 combs comes in? Wiiy, tliere is a vast system 

 of storehouses above, already built, ready to 

 garner the inflowing riches. And what can 

 make a fleld-bee happier than a copious flow of 

 nectar and plenty of room to receive it? It is 

 not the disposition of bees lo hamper the queen. 

 That bees, when given combs above at a time 

 when they are crowding tlu' brood-nest with 

 honey, will remove it and store it above, even 

 much of that which they have already sealed, 

 I have ample proofs. Henc<' the queen is al- 

 lowed her full capacity: and to feed the larvie, 

 carry the honey above, ripen and seal it, seems 

 to give the house bees sufficient employment. 

 Thus the swarming fever is allayed, or pi'event- 

 ed altogether. Does it not all look reasonable, 

 probable, all but certain ? This system, over a 

 small brood-chamber, might not avail to pre- 

 vent swarming: but I am very certain that a 

 large hive, and working for comb honey, would 

 not do it. 



Mr. F. S. Wallace, of Clayton. 111., like the 

 Dadants, is troubled very little with swarming. 

 I had several of his (pieens in my apiary last 

 summer, and not one of them exhibited any dis- 

 position to swarm, although iwo of them were 



