102 MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



weekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will 

 check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems 

 very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But some- 

 times swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult 

 to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, 

 an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious 

 when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the 

 bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. The 

 plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and is in general not 

 worth the effort it costs and can not be depended on. 



DEQUEENING. 



The removal of a queen at the opening of the swarming season inter- 

 feres, of course, with the plans of the bees, and they will then delay 

 swarming until they get a young queen. Then if the bee keeper 

 destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be 

 checked-. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless 

 longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at 

 a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first 

 made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is 

 extended over some time or other yields come later in the season, is 

 likely, or even nearly sure, to be less from such colonies, while the inter- 

 ruption to brood rearing may decimate the colony and prove very dis- 

 astrous to it. The plan is therefore not to be commended. 



REQUEENING. 



Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of 

 swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season 

 with a young one of the same season's raising, produced, perhaps, in the 

 South before it is possible to rear queens in the North. Such queens 

 are not likely to swarm during the first season, and as they are vigor- 

 ous layers the hive will be well populated at alt times and thus ready 

 for any harvest. This is important inasmuch as a flow of honey may 

 come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon, and 

 also since the conditions essential to the development of the various 

 honey-yielding plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey 

 yield will also differ with the season, the same as the quantity may vary. 

 Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter. The 

 plan is conducive to the highest prosperity of the colonies and is con- 

 sistent with the securing of the largest average yield of honey, since 

 besides giving them vigorous layers it generally keeps the population 

 together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be commended on all 

 accounts as being in line with the most progressive management, with- 

 out at the same time interfering with the application of other preventive 

 measures. 



