186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Maech, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Wide Spacing for Swarm Control 



Speaking of the control of swarming 

 from the honey-producer's standpoint, I 

 feel that I ought to acknowledge my igno- 

 rance. Tho I have studied the problem for 

 many years, tho I have worked hard to keep 

 swarming in check, and have made the work 

 pay, I do not know the cause of swarming. 



I have read practically all that has been 

 written on the subject in the English lan- 

 guage since 1890. Many theories have been 

 advanced, accompanied by more or less con- 

 vincing proof, but in practice all have 

 proven fallacious. It may make the matter 

 a little clearer to say that swarming is caus- 

 ed by an instinct which is modified by en- 

 vironment, as are all instincts. The instinct 

 itself must be attacked if we are ever to 

 have non-swarming bees; and that can be 

 done only by careful and long-continued 

 breeding. There is no doubt in my mind 

 that successful work is being done in this 

 line. I have some hope that my grandchil- 

 dren may be able to buy non-swarming stock 

 by the end of the present century. 



Taking the other half of the difficulty, 

 that of environment, there is hope, and in- 

 deed certainty, of success ; but the labor in- 

 volved is so gi'eat that it requires some 

 figuring to be sure that it pays. In my own 

 apiaries I depend on the fact that bees sel- 

 dom or never swarm without a queen, keep- 

 ing all colonies queenless during all or a 

 l^art of the honey-flow. This work is so 

 exacting that I have never been able to get 

 it done by hired help. I do all the work 

 myself, and even then I have some swarms. 

 I may remark in passing that I have known 

 two cases where a colony swarmed and left 

 apparently without a queen of any kind. I 

 think I described the cases in Gleanings a 

 year or two ago. 



Certain factors in environment are easily 

 disposed of. It is easy to give ventilation 

 and shade. Wider spacing of frames, at 

 least so far as to give it a trial, may be had 

 with little trouble. By leaving out the di- 

 vision-board in eight-frame hives, spacing 

 all frames equally to take up the extra 

 room, we can have li/2-irich spacing. In 

 ten-frame hives, one frame may be left out, 

 leaving the division - board in the hive. 

 Since the point of wide spacing has been 

 brought up by Mr. Dadant, and given a 

 prominent place by the editor of Glean- 

 INGS; I expect to try the wide spacing on 

 twenty per cent of my colonies thru the 

 next honey-flow. If records are carefully 

 kept, such an experiment may be valuable. 



There will be some difficulty in removing 

 the first frame when no division-boards are 

 used, and some trouble in getting back to 

 the narrow spacing when the cells have been 

 lengthened and filled with honey; but the 

 experiment must be made if we are to have 

 any definite knowledge on the subject. If 

 1%-ineh spacing of brood-frames will give 

 us ten per cent less swarms I will cheerfully 

 bear the expense of making the change. 



I still feel inclined to doubt the evidence. 

 So many factors are involved that it is 

 difficult to judge; and Mi\ Dadant does not 

 claim any positive knowledge. I should like 

 to see an article on the subject, by Allen 

 Latham. 



Newman, 111. C. F. Bender. 



Why Dequeen the Cell-builders ? 



On page 939, October 1, ]\ir. Kennith 

 Hawkins takes Mr. Pritchard to task for 

 advising Mr. Kuenzli to use only capped 

 brood in his cell-building colonies, stating 

 that he cannot afford to have so many 

 colonies backward from dequeening and re- 

 queening later. Now I shall have to go Mr. 

 Hawkins one better and ask him why de- 

 queen at all. I find it unnecessary. Fur- 

 thermore, I find it more advantageous to 

 have a good vigorous queen in the hive to 

 keep up the supply of young bees so neces- 

 sary for the best results. 



Last season I started with one colony 

 fairly strong, and the same colony continu- 

 ed to build fine cells the whole season. I 

 prepare my colony for cell-building by rais- 

 ing two combs of hatching bees over an ex- 

 cluder. These young bees hatching out and 

 finding cells left vacant seem to consider 

 themselves queenless and will take a limited 

 number of cells. As fast as they gain in 

 streng-th they will accept more; but I make 

 my queen-i-earing system a continuous per- 

 formance, giving only a few cells each day, 

 about seven or eight generally the first two 

 days; then after waiting a couple of days 

 I repeat the operation. From time to time 

 I take a frame or two of hatching brood 

 from the lower story of the hive and put it 

 above; but this is more for the purpose of 

 giving the queen more I'oom to kvy, thereby 

 adding more bees to the strength of the 

 colony than for any other purpose, as the 

 bees as they gain in strength will naturally 

 crowd up into the super. This cell-building 

 colony I used last season contained a very 

 fine drone-producing queen, so I assembled 



