960 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



have always had a friendly leaning toward 

 them; and I am not sure but an Ideal super 

 with Hoffman frames, V edge, the wide 

 part of the end-bar running clear down full 

 depth, would make an "ideal" combination 

 in fact as well as in name. I believe the 

 time will come when many of our experts 

 will be using divisible brood - chambers. 

 There is no getting around it, they have 

 some desirable features that can not be ob- 

 tained in a standard deep brood-nest. A 

 Hoffman frame with the end-bar full depth 

 for a brood-nest no deeper than would take 

 a 4X5 section could be used very satisfac- 

 torily, at the same time affording all the ad- 

 vantages of full-closed-end frames, without 

 some of their disadvantages. Then another 

 very important point, the super and brood- 

 nest would be one and the same. Narrow 

 boards always cost less than wide ones, per 

 square foot; and as lumber becomes more 

 scarce, bee-keepers may be compelled to 

 use hives taking narrow lumber. 



I will not attempt to enumerate all the ad- 

 vantages of a shallow brood-nest; but I can 

 not forbear mentioning one more. Brushed 

 or shaken swarming is now coming to be 

 common practice among advanced bee-keep- 

 ers. The shallow brood-nest, as Mr. Hed- 

 don so clearly explained years ago, offers 

 exceptional facilities for getting all the bees 

 off the combs without touching a single 

 comb. 



This is an interesting field for discussion, 

 and our columns are open for further consid- 

 eration to those who have used practically 

 this combination, and there are many who 

 are using it, as we know from our sales rec- 

 ord. It goes without saying, that a shallow 

 brood-nest should have a spaced or fixed 

 frame.— Ed.] 



»t»« 



E. W. ALEXANDER'S METHOD OF ARTIFI- 

 CIAL INCREASE. 



How to Succeed Without Hunting for the 

 Queen. 



BY J. M. RO^ER. 



I have been reading about the various 

 methods of artificial increase in bee culture, 

 especially those of Mr. H. G. Sibbald and 

 Mr. E. W. Alexander; and after weighing 

 both in the balance I consider the method of 

 the latter a most admirable one, and far 

 ahead of that of the former, 



I am only a young bee-keeper; but I enter 

 the profession with a determination to know 

 all I can of the science (for bee-keeping is a 

 science) , and to succeed if possible. 



In applying artificial increase in my apia- 

 ry I found, as I still find, that the ordinary 

 method of making nucleus colonies with 

 one, two, or three frames of brood and 

 bees a rather tardy one, requiring a good 

 deal of time, and sometimes much trouble, 

 before these small colonies become self- 

 dependent. 



Before reading of Mr. Alexander's meth- 

 od the subject suggested itself to me that, 



instead of forming nuclei in the ordinary 

 way, I might form them in connection with 

 the brood nest or chamber, in the form of a 

 super. The method I adopted and still fol- 

 low is this: Going to the colony from which 

 I wish to form my nucleus I divide it into 

 two equal parts, adding frames with start- 

 ers of foundation to each half of the divided 

 colony. I then place the new colony, or nu- 

 cleus, on top of the old colony, minus the 

 queen-excluding honey-board, thus allowing 

 the queen free access to both colonies. I 

 allow them to remain in that condition for 

 ten days or two weeks, after which I sepa- 

 rate them without paying any attention to 

 the location of the queen. In two or three 

 days the appearance of queen-cells reveals 

 the queenless colony. If I have a queen 

 available I then introduce her or give a ripe 

 queen-cell, if there is one, and then destroy 

 all the newly built cells. 



By this method I find that my new colo- 

 nies (being formed not only with bees and 

 brood but also with larvce and eggs) work 

 up very quickly, and in about four weeks 

 are quite able to give off another colony, 

 while the original colony, if it has the queen, 

 is able to do so in less time. 



The difference between this plan and that 

 of Mr. Alexander seems to be the seeking- 

 out of the queen and putting her in the new 

 colony, and the intervention of the queen- 

 excluding honey-board. 



With regard to Mr. W. H. Crawford's 

 suggestion, page 606, of giving a ripe queen- 

 cell or virgin queen to the queenless colony 

 while on top of the excluder, the question 

 arises, " Would it be workable? " The col- 

 onies being practically one, and the bees, 

 minus the queen, having access to the upper 

 and lower stories, and having intercourse 

 with the queen below, would they be likely 

 to tolerate another queen or a queen-cell? 

 If, however, this could be carried out suc- 

 cessfully it would add greatly to this meth- 

 od, and the upper story could have an en- 

 trance in the ordinary place, turned in the 

 direction opposite from that of the brood- 

 nest by which the young queen could find an 

 exit for fertilization, rather than go through 

 an " auger-hole." 



St. Margaret's Bay, Jamaica, June 21. 



SWARMING UNDER CONTROL. 



Better to Keep Down Increase than to, Try to 

 Prevent Swarming. 



BY J. W. SMITH. 



I have read with interest the articles that 

 have appeared in Gleanings on keeping 

 bees from swarming; but during the last 

 fifteen years I have tried nearly every con- 

 ceivable method, such as Dr. Gandy recom- 

 mended, the Townsend method, and methods 

 of my own. After all, it is my opinion and 

 experience that, if bees want to swarm, 

 they will do it, even if I would combine all 

 the methods known against them. No 



