1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



657 



whitewashed cover. I am seeking some- 

 thing better. 



I wish to thank both Mr. Greiner and the 

 editor for the kindly way in which they have 

 criticised my article upon the proper color 

 for hives. I am well aware that what I of- 

 fered in that article abounds in unorthodox 

 principles, and that I might well have ex- 

 pected to be branded a heretic. My chief 

 hope is that Mr. Greiner, Editor Root, and 

 others may live to reap the blessings which 

 come from the following of these principles. 



Norwich, Conn. 



SWARMING NOT A CALAMITY BUT A 

 BLESSING. 



Why a Divisible-brood- chamber Hive is Supe- 

 rior to a Twelve-frame Holtermann; Work- 

 ing in Harmony with Nature rather 

 than Fighting her. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



Mr. Holtermann's article on swarming— p. 

 365, is especially interesting to me, as it 

 shows about how the average honey- pro- 

 ducer looks at swarming. Viewing his ar- 

 ticle from the standpoint of the hive I am 

 using, and with the Ight I now have on hiv- 

 ing swarms so that no break shall occur in 

 the storing of surplus honey, 1 am very cer- 

 tain that Mr. H has greatly magnified the 

 evils of swarming. 



He has, in the very beginning of his arti- 

 cle, branded swarming as the bane of mod- 

 em apiculture, and declared it the cause of 

 all the ills known to modem bee-keeping, 

 and all this without even telling us for a cer- 

 tainty how we can prevent this great catas- 

 trophe, for he has acknowledged his inabili- 

 ty to prevent swarming successfully. 



After admitting his system to be entirely 

 inadequate to the demands of a new swarm 

 of bees, so that no honey shall be lost by 

 the issuing of a swarm, he mak es the broad 

 and contradictory statement that the twelve- 

 frame hive is better for comb-honey produc- 

 tion than a smaller one. The only remedy 

 that Mr. H. has to offer for this great evil 

 (swarming) is the hope that Mr. Aspinwall's 

 hive may prove a success. 



When a man with the inventive genius 

 possessed by Mr. Aspinwall pits his reason- 

 ing powers against the instinct of the little 

 bee, there can be but one result — the man 

 should win. The question yet remains, 

 "Will the end justify the means?" Right 

 here the question arises, ' ' Is the prevention 

 of swarming desirable from the standpoint 

 of the comb-honey producer? " It is true 

 there are times and conditions under which 

 a sure preventive of swarming would seem 

 to be desirable, such as out-apiaries, and 

 where the apiarist has not the time to care 

 for swarms. In such cases the "shook- 

 swarming ' ' system is a sure thing, and leaves 

 nothing further to be desired. 



FromMr. Holtermann's point of view, with 

 his twelve- frame hives for comb-honey pro- 

 duction it is no wonder that he considers 



swarming as a great calamity. What could 

 any one expect from the average swarm of 

 bees hived in a twelve-frame hive, in any 

 ordinary location? From the standpoint of 

 the horizontally contractible-brood-chamber 

 hive that is capable of contraction horizon- 

 tally to nearly a third the capacity of his 

 hive, swarming ceases to be a calamity. On 

 the contrary, it is a blessing, as not only 

 can much more comb honey be produced by 

 allowing the bees to swarm once, but a much? 

 higher grade of honey is assured. It is not. 

 possible to produce a atiiutly fancy article.- 

 of comb honey over old black brood- combs, 

 hence the prevention of swarming is not de- 

 sirable from the standpoint of the comb- 

 honey producer. 



It is not swarming that is the bane of 

 modern apiculture, as Mr. H. would have us 

 believe; but no greater calamity could hap- 

 pen to a swarm of bees or their owner than 

 hiving them in a twelve- frame hive for 

 comb honey. 



Ever since bee-keeping has been a pursuit 

 of any consequence, much talent has been 

 brought to bear trying to eliminate the God- 

 given instinct of the bee by breeding out 

 the swarming impulse, and much inventive 

 genius has been wasted in a vain attempt to 

 produce a non-swarming hive. It is need- 

 less to state that very little has ever yet 

 been accomplished along these lines. All 

 this talent has been brought to bear in di- 

 rect opposition to nature's plan. The suc- 

 cessful physician, in treating diseases, will 

 always work in harmony with nature, and 

 by so doing he will assist her to throw off 

 the shackles of disease. How much better 

 it would be if some of the talent that has 

 been wasted trying to invent non-swarming 

 hives had been directed along the lires of 

 assisting nature by working in harmony 

 with the natural instincts of the bees, so 

 that they may be kept contented and happy, 

 and working with a rush and vim that can 

 never be found except in a new swarm of 

 bees! 



Every thing that has ever yet been ac- 

 complished has been along this line, and it 

 has changed what seemed to be a calamity 

 into a blessing. I allude to the horizontally 

 contractible hive. The instinct of the bee 

 to swarm was given it by an all-wise Crea- 

 tor, who makes no mistakes, as the only 

 means of propagating its species and per- 

 petuating its existence against its enemies, 

 who were sure to be attracted by its rich 

 stores of wealth and sweetness. If it had 

 not been for this instinct the bee would, 

 long ere this, have become extinct. In view 

 of these truths who can truthfully make the 

 assertion that swarming is a calamity? 



Mr. H. has also fallen into the oft-repeat- 

 ed error common to the advocates of a large- 

 brood- chamber hive, in assuming that a 

 large hive always contains a large colony of 

 bees. He says a colony which did not cast 

 a swarm in 1905, and filled a twelve-frdme 

 brood-chamber in the fall as well as anoth- 

 er, an eight- frame one (winter and other 

 things being equal), will build up faster in 



