42 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



1 swarms at 10 a. m., take a 

 "swarming box" as described in 

 Alley's "Hand}" Book" (or any 

 box witli wire cloth top and bot- 

 tom) and put them into it, taking 

 the number of queen with bees ; 

 now cut out every queen cell, 

 arrange the brood chamber and 

 surplus room. When the next 

 colony (No. 2) swarms, put it into 

 the hive No. 1, previously arranged 

 to receive them (this may be done 

 at any time within 24 hours) ; now 

 place the first swarm, No. 1, in the 

 hive which swarm No. 2 has just 

 left, first preparing the hive and 

 surplus arrangements as in former 

 instance ; by thus doing you grat- 

 ify the swarming impulse and yet 

 do not increase the bees. Some- 

 times the queen may be taken 

 from the colony and placed for a few 

 days either in the queen nursery 

 or a side hive, as described by L. 

 C. Root, page 8, May number, 

 Apiculturist. I have seen colonies 

 so persistent in the matter of 

 swarming that they swarmed out 

 eight times, and then we were 

 obliged to extract all the honey 

 from the hives and run them' for 

 extracted honey. 



Remember that beekeepers are 

 now reaping their best honey har- 

 vest and that everything pertaining 

 to the apiary and care of the bees 

 must be attended to promptly. It 

 will be a fine time just now to try 

 one lot (at least) of queen cells by 

 Alley's method, and learn for 

 yourselves that there are new and 

 better ways to rear queens than we 

 have known in the past. Your 

 honey harvest largely depends 

 upon the character of your queens. 

 Those who are working for increase 

 of stock may build up very rapidly 

 now, by using comb foundation, 

 and rearing their own queens, so 

 that they may have them when 

 they divide their colonies (see 

 either of the standard works on 

 artificial increase). Mr. House 



in his essay in the " Handy Book " 

 reasonably suggests reversing the 

 sections to have them completed 

 nicely. It will be well to try it 

 this season. Be sure that your ex- 

 tracted honey is well ripened 

 before putting it away. L. C. Root 

 offers some suggestions on this 

 point in the Bee Keepers' Ex- 

 change (March and April numbers) 

 in a paper read at N. E. B. A., 

 last spring. In storing your sur- 

 plus or section honey, place it in a 

 moth-proof dark room, and the 

 sections should not be left for any 

 great length of time outside where 

 the moth can get at them. Study 

 your colonies carefuU}' and well 

 and note those which are the best 

 honey gatherers, best breeders and 

 which have the largest number of 

 valuable characteristics, and next 

 season you should breed from such 

 queens, and supersede the poor, 

 weak and feeble ones. In this 

 way you will improve your stock 

 and increase your income. Watch 

 sharp for foul brood, never examine 

 a colony without noticing the 

 brood to see if it is affected, as 

 when once started it spreads very 

 rapidly, especially at this time of 

 the year. It would be well if 

 more attention were paid to this 

 matter, or the time may come 

 when it will become an epidemic 

 and a scourge. If there should 

 come a honey dearth or spell when 

 the bees were idle and storing no 

 honey, it would be well to stimu- 

 late them just enough to keep up 

 breeding. We consider this not 

 only good but essential. There 

 may be some who think that they 

 must open a hive and examine the 

 colony thoroughly to understand 

 its condition. To such we would 

 say there is no need of this ; watch 

 your bees and you will soon learn 

 to judge of their condition b}'' their 

 actions ; this saves honey, time, 

 and often queens, and is essential 

 to success. 



