372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



cause of swariiuny is a congested brood- 

 chamber. When the queen lays in everj' 

 available cell she feels she has done all she 

 can for the colony, and goes out to start a 

 new colony. That is why putting on comb- 

 supers will not i3revent swarming. I have 

 had colonies in the spring whose queen had 

 16 Hoffman frames of brood and eggs in 

 all stages of development. Now, how could 

 we expect to hold a queen like that in an 

 eight-frame hive? We must expand the 

 brood-chamber to keep down swarming, 

 either by removing the capped brood, shake 

 swarming, or putting capped brood in an 

 upper story away from the brood-nest. 



To describe my visits : I made my first 

 trip when my bees at home showed they 

 needed super room by the clustering-out of 

 the strongest colonies. On visiting the out- 

 yard I equalized my colonies by exchanging 

 capped brood for eggs or empty comb, 

 leaving tlie bees on the capped brood, and 

 using a little smoke. I have no trouble 

 from fighting. I then got a full-dei)th body 

 for each colony, and, removing five empty 

 combs, exchanged them with five combs of 



(■ai)ped brood, putting the capped brood in 

 the upper story and giving the queen access 

 to both stories; then put a shallow super on 

 to]) as a kind of safety-valve in ease the 

 flow jn'oves heavy before the next visit. 



On the second visit I followed the same 

 plan as at first, rai-sing capped brood and 

 honey, and inserting empty body or bodies 

 below, according to needs of each individual 

 colony. One can find the queens at this 

 time, put them on new combs in the lower 

 body, and keep them there with queen-ex- 

 cluders; but 1 have never thought it paid 

 for time required to find the queens. 



The third visit I made about ten days 

 after the spring flow was over, removing all 

 honey on each hive, putting all brood in one 

 or two bodies according to the amount, and 

 hauled honey home to extract. 



The fourth visit was after the fall flow, 

 which is not heavy in this locality, and 

 rarely affords any surjjlus. If a few colo- 

 nies had surplus I removed it and put it on 

 colonies short of stores ; if not, I fed sugar. 

 1 then reduced the entrances, and packed 

 tlie bees for winter. 



Baltimore, Md. 



WITH SHEEP AND BEES AND HONEY BOB SURELY MADE SOME 



MONEY 



BY REV. J. M. LEWIS 



Bob was a shejiherd who pastured twenty 

 sheep. They browsed around the meadow 

 where the grass was long and deep ; but 

 when the leaves had fallen and November 

 winds were cliill, out in the open meadow 

 the}'^ could not get their fill. So Bob he 

 kindly put them in a well-protected shed, 

 with hay enough to feed them in the mow 



up overhead. But the seed kept sifting 

 down, and it lodged amidst their wool, and 

 there it safely stayed till the April moon 

 was full. 



And then went those muttons out in the 

 rain, you know, and in less- than twenty 

 days the seed began to grow; and it gi'ew 

 and keytt on gTowing like the bean in faiiy 

 song, till the grass up- 

 on their backs was at 

 least two inches long. 

 And Bob, he expected 

 that, later in the year, 

 tlie fragrant clover 

 blossoms would cer- 

 tainly api^ear. 



The moral of this 

 tale is clear to every 

 eye — that by judicious 

 management (if a per- 

 son cares to try), he 

 may with little trouble 

 when the days are 

 warm and sunny, have 

 tlie sheep supply the 

 nectar for the bees to 

 make the honey. 

 North Westportt,Mas3. 



