THE AMERICAJN BKE JOURJSIAL. 



727 



syrup, into wliich a few drops of the 

 essence of cloves had been put ; there 

 was very little fighting— not 50 bees 

 killed. 



Now comes the extraordinary part 

 of the business. I have examined 

 them repeatedly since uniting them, 

 and I find that both colonies are ap- 

 parently as distinct now as when 

 they occupied separate hives ; the old 

 bees crawl about in the same listless 

 manner as before being joined by the 

 others, while the latter are as frisky 

 and as " full of sting " (there is about 

 a fourth Ligurian blood in them) as 

 bees ought to be. The old (dwindled) 

 colony is one that I got in May, 18.S5 ; 

 they were then put into a combina- 

 tion hive on full sheets of foundation, 

 and did very well last year ; this year 

 I got a little over 20 sections from 

 them. 



I have examined the combs care- 

 fully, and I can find nothing wrong. 

 I have also kept a look-out for a re- 

 jected queen, but I have not seen one. 

 Can any of the readers of the Ameri- 

 cAK Bee Journal explain this ob- 

 jection on the part of the bees to 

 unite V 



I anxiously await the coming of the 

 excellent weekly American Bee 

 Journal, which I get here never 

 later than 13 days after the date of 

 publication. The past has been a 

 bad season for bee-keepers in this 

 country. I got more than twice the 

 quantity of honey last year from 2 

 colonies of bees. 



Killarney, Ireland, Oct. 6, 1886. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Simmlns'Non-Sf arming System.' 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



So many of the foreign works that 

 I have read have such a slow, meas- 

 ured, solemn, away-behind-the-times 

 style about them, as compared with 

 the quick, light, elastic "get-there" 

 tread of our American authors, that I 

 was most agreeably surprised to find 

 a decidedly American air about tlie 

 book entitled" Simmins' Non-Swarm- 

 ing System." It is quite evident that 

 the author is a close reader of Ameri- 

 can apicultural literature ; in fact, 

 some of the methods and practices 

 advocated by Mr. Simmins have been 

 discussed quite recently in these 

 columns. 



Although the author writes briefly 

 upon quite a number of bee-keeping 

 topics, yet the grand central idea is 

 the prevention of swarming. The 

 principle consists in giving the bees 

 more room than they require in the 

 shape of unfinished combs, adjoining 

 or next to the entrance. The author 

 states that it is a fact that no colony 

 in normal condition attempts to swarm 

 unless it has all its brood-combs com- 

 pleted. He says that the probable 

 reason why this has escaped the no- 

 tice of bee-keepers, is because all 

 have become so wedded to the use 

 of foundation, that such a thing as 

 frames having starters only as a guide 

 to the bees, could not possibly enter 

 their beads ; and, moreover, the next 



great difficulty in producing comb 

 honey would be getting rid of the 

 long-fixed idea that bees will never 

 work in supers until all brood-combs 

 are finished and occupied. 



The fact is, however, that by limit- 

 ing the number of brood-combs just 

 beiore the season commences, then 

 inserting below or in front of such 

 brood-combs several frames with i|- 

 inch starters only, having more room 

 than they require in the nursery, the 

 desire for swarming does not exist, 

 while for all practical purposes the 

 bees can be at once crowded into the 

 sections ; the latter being first filled 

 with newly built combs. By carefully 

 regulating the surplus department, 

 and removing combs as fast as fin- 

 ished, the frames with starters never 

 have finished combs. 



The sections being filled with combs 

 the bees fill those rather than go on 

 building comb to any great extent 

 below the brood-nest. The system 

 offers still another advantage. The 

 author says that he has long been of 

 the opinion that foundation is being 

 used in the brood- chamber at a serious 

 loss. He says that brood-combs can 

 be produced by sugar-feeding pre- 

 vious to the honey-flow more cheaply 

 than foundation can be purchased ; 

 and, moreover, when hiving swarms 

 (natural or artificial), if frames with 

 guides only be used instead of full 

 sheets of foundation, the whole 

 energy of the bees is thrown upon the 

 supers. It will be seen, he continues, 

 how by first placing a limit on the 

 size of the broodnest, then averaging 

 empty frames between it and the en- 

 trance, the bees have every oppor- 

 tunity to profitably apply their sur- 

 plus secretion of wax ; thus, instead 

 of being simply a consumer of this 

 article, the apiarist of the future 

 will produce wax at a profit. This 

 natural secretion of the bees is prob- 

 ably always present during a flow of 

 honey, so says Mr. Simmins, and 

 instead of the wax scales being cast 

 away for want of a suitable place to 

 use them, this system finds room and 

 employment for all surplus that may 

 be present. 



The comb that is ciit out below the 

 brood-nest is fitted into the sections. 

 If it contains eggs or small larvae be- 

 fore it is removed, it is kept away 

 from the bees until the eggs or larvse 

 have lost their vitality. Perhaps 

 some will remember that Mr. Board- 

 man remarked last December at De- 

 troit, that he hived his bees upon 

 empty frames, then cutout the combs 

 and fitted them into the sections. It 

 seemed to me at the time as being 

 quite a task, and it still appears the 

 same, as does this cutting out of 

 combs below the brood-nest to pre- 

 vent swarming ; but I am very much 

 interested in it^t is a new idea to me, 

 and I presume I shall give it a trial 

 another season simply to see how it 

 works. Whether inverting the brood- 

 nest weekly would prevent swarming, 

 I do not know ; my experience in that 

 line has been too limited. In my own 

 apiary I do not care to prevent 

 swarming, but I can easily see that it 

 would be a great advantage to one 

 who wishes to establish out apiaries. 



To secure combs for filling the 

 sections. Mr. Simmins puts on an upper 

 story with frames of foundation be- 

 fore the honey harvest, then places 

 dummies, filled with dry Porto Rico 

 sugar, upon each side of the brood- 

 nest and each side of the frames of 

 foundation. With a good colony on 

 the third day the foundation will be 

 drawn out, when it is removed and a 

 fresh batch inserted. 



The author says that there has 

 been a tendency of late to start bees 

 upon a feiv sections early in the sea- 

 son. This is very well with weak 

 colonies, but with such colonies as 

 will give a fair profit, a larger super 

 room should be given at the start; 

 more particularly is this the case 

 with the plan of obtaining combs for 

 the sections before the honey harvest 

 comes on. He says : "Give a good 

 colony -10 pounds capacity, and they 

 will fill it ; give it 60 pounds and they 

 will do the same, and so on almost 

 without limit. Under this condition 

 the brood-nest is left comparatively 

 free from stores, and the population 

 is kept at about one thing until to- 

 wards the close of the season ; but 

 cramp them to begin with, and they 

 are cramped in every way until the 

 end of the summer." 



Mr. Simmins says, also, that from 

 the moment that surplus receptacles 

 are put on, the production of brood 

 should be on the decline. He farther 

 says that it will be observed that he 

 has laid great stress upon the neces- 

 sity of so managing the surplus ar- 

 rangements that the brood-nest is not 

 crowded with honey, and on no occa- 

 sion should it become necessary to 

 extract from the brood- combs when 

 producing comb honey, as is recom- 

 mended by some writers, who thereby 

 acknowledge their system to be at 

 fault. When the season is over the 

 bees will need feeding, and he ad- 

 vises giving them 20 pounds of sugar 

 syrup in one or two doses. He then 

 points out the profits of wintering the 

 bees on sugar, and that by so doing 

 good colonies are secured for the next 

 season's work. 



Without a doubt, says Mr. Simmins, 

 there are no bees which cap their 

 honey and give it such a light appear- 

 ance as do the native blacks ; he also 

 adds that Ligurian queens mated to 

 black drones are very prolific and 

 give energetic workers, producing 

 honey in much larger quantities than 

 the bees of either pure race. Their 

 combs do not present quite so light 

 an appearance as that of the blacks. 

 For the production of extracted honey 

 Mr. S. thinks that the Cyprians stand 

 at the head of all. 



The direct introduction of queens is 

 treated at some length, but as this 

 has already been given in these col- 

 umns I will not notice it, except to 

 say that I had proved it to be a suc- 

 cess long before I had heard that any 

 one else had practiced it. 



The author is a strong advocate of 

 the practice of feeding dry sugar to 

 bees instead of making it'into syrup. 

 The sugar best adapted for dry feed- 

 ing is that known as Porto Rico. It 

 is unrefined, but very pure, and is 

 soft and moist, therefore well suited 



