104 



MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



LANGDON NON-SWARMING DEVICE. 



This device (fig. 70, 7>), first described and illustrated in Insect Life 

 for April, 1893 (Vol. V, No. 4), is designed to do more than merely pre- 

 vent swarming. The following claims are made by the inventor: 



(1) It prevents all swarming without caging queens, cutting out queen cells or 

 manipulation of brood combs. 



(2) Two light colonies that would not do much in sections if working separately 

 make one good one by running the field force of both into the same set of supers. 



(3) No bait sections are needed, as the bees can be crowded into the sections with- 

 out swarming. 



(4) The honey will be finished in better condition, that is, with less travel stain, 

 because the union of the field forces enables them to complete the work in less time. 



(5) There will be fewer unfinished sections at the close of the honey harvest for 

 the reason just mentioned. 



FIG. 70. Beehives with Langdon non-swarmer attached: A, B, hives; S. S', supers ; D, non-swarming 

 device; e, e', entrances corresponding to hive entrances; si, slide for closing entrance; c, c', conical 

 wire-cloth bee-escapes ; ex, ex 1 , exits of same. (From Insect Life.) 



(6) Also for the same reason honey can be taken off by the full case instead of by 

 the section or holderful. 



(7) Drones will be fewer in number, as a double handful will often be killed off in 

 the closed hive while the other is storing honey rapidly. 



(8) Artificial swarms and nuclei can be more easily made, as combs of brood and 

 bees can be taken from the closed hive in which the queen can be found very 

 quickly. 



(9) It enables one to care for more than twice as many colonies as under the 

 swarming system. 



Eesults according with the claims mentioned above have been reported 

 from various localities, but numerous adverse reports have also been 

 given, the latter indicating clearly that some modification of the device 

 is necessary if it is to be made generally serviceable. A further trial 

 of the principle under varying conditions and climates will also be 

 required to decide its exact value. 



