May 15, 1914 



389 



ly another one came out and started for the 

 same phiee ; and before she had the liive 

 ready to jnit them in, the second swarm 

 started to settle with the others. She did 

 not know what to do, and she eould see 

 another swarm issuing down among the 

 hives. Suddenly it occurred to her to cover 

 them up ; so she put a sheet around the bees 

 and tied it on the tree above them. The new 

 lot settled on the sheet. The next swarm 

 came along, so she covered up the second 

 swarm with a chaff bag split open, and 

 the third swarm settled on the bag. Then 

 four more swarms issued almost at once, 

 and they all made for the same tree. She 

 divided the swarms as well as possible with 

 the shee.te, table-cloths, etc., and when the 

 swarms stopped issuing she had nine on that 

 tree, and all separate. Soon they were all 

 hived satisfactorily. 



On another occasion she had 15 swarms 

 out during one morning, and seven of these 



in the air at once; but she managed to keep 

 the latter apart with the spray pump. 



Some time ago I wrote that a good queen 

 would not go into the top box, and the 'ge- 

 nial Dr. C. C. Miller reckoned ?!] queens 

 would do so if pressed for room, to which I 

 say amen ; and some other gentlem.an said 

 they would go up, but " of course I would 

 use queen -excluders." That is just the jjoint 

 T was making. I want queens that do not 

 need excluders to keep them down. ■ The 

 old-fashioned leather-colored Ligurian queen 

 would stay down in the bottom box and 

 have a nice compact brood-nest, although 

 the hive was a four-story one, and all the 

 top stories empty; but a badly bred queen, 

 although she may bs pure, will not do this. 

 In times of dearth she will go upstairs and 

 transfer her brood-nest from the bottom to 

 the top story. 



So. Woodburn, N. S. W., Australia. 



THE §HAKEN=SWAMM PLAN AFTER MANY YEAES^ TEST 



BY M. A. GILL 



In that masterful work of Moses Quinby 

 he tells how he drove swarms from old box 

 hives for the purpose of transferring, just 

 at the time they were preparing to swarm. 

 The splendid results he obtained, according 

 to liis book, written over sixty years ago, 

 induced me during my early beekeej^ing to 

 try the same method; and after securing the 

 same splendid results lie describes I was led 

 to ask, if a swarm would do so well driven 

 from an old box just before a swarm issued, 

 why wouldn't it do as well if shaken from 

 a frame hive just before it was to cast a 

 natural swarm? After trying the plan 

 until the results proved I was doing it cor- 

 rectly, I have never abandoned it, nor do T 

 think that L. Stachelhausen ever did Avhile 

 he lived. 



I can't tell Avhcn a colony is going to 

 swarm without some kind of examination. 

 Of course, an experienced eye can cruise a 

 whole apiary and give a good estimate of 

 how many colonies are about to cast o 

 swarm; but a thorough examination will 

 reveal the fact; and this is quite necessary. 

 or else the work would be as unsatisfactory 

 as putting a boy or man to watch for 

 swarms at an out-apiary who would allow 

 half of them to go off while he enjoyed a 

 nap under some inviting shade-tree. So if 

 in doubt, an examination of from three to 

 five combs for queen-cells is absolutely nec- 



essary if one intends to prevent natural 

 swarming. 



Modern medicine advises prevention rath- 

 er than cure, and thus all the little kinks 

 should be and can be used during the 

 swarming season to prevent it. But after 

 a colony shows a second inclination after 

 being once thwarted, it is wise to shake it, 

 for any further meddling will result in loaf- 

 ing or the raising of a new queen. 



The idea that the season's results from a 

 shaken swarm are not as good as from a 

 natural one is erroneous; for when the 

 brood is carried to a new stand, as it always 

 should be, the new colony receives all the 

 flying bees, and in many cases the combs 

 are shaken clean, as the brood is needed for 

 weaker colonies. I can not imagine why 

 any apiarist should prefer to wait a few 

 hours, or perl;aps a few days, to allow a 

 colony to cast a natural swarm that might 

 cluster where he has to shin up a tree, when 

 lie can make just as good a swarm in from 

 five to fifteen minutes, and the work is a 

 l^leasure. 



Three people can liandle from one thou- 

 sand to twelve hundred colonies in out- 

 apiaries. Of course, it is needless to say 

 that this can not be done without a month 

 of almost slavish work. But three can not 

 attend to that many comb-honey colonies 

 scattered over the territory they would 

 require if allowed to swarm naturally. 



