638 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Prevention of Swarming. 



L. L. LANGSTKOTH. 



Believing that it is right to hive 

 swarms wliich camiot be kept from 

 issuing on Sunday, let me make some 

 suggestions to those who, like myself, 

 wish on this day to have as little as 

 possible to do with bees. 



1. By giving the material for start- 

 ing queen-cells on Saturday, there 

 will be no occasion to care for them 

 on' Sunday. 



|i- 2. Use some proper device for con- 

 fining the ([ueens on Sunday, or any 

 other day wlien you do not wish them 

 to"lead out swarms. This is a point 

 to'which I have given much attention. 

 On page 174 of the third ediiion (1859) 

 of my work, I say, — 



" As the qiieen cannot get through 

 an opening .5-32 of an inch nigh, wliich 

 will just pass a loaded worker, * if the 

 entrance to the hive be contracted to 

 this dimension, she will not lie able 

 to leave witli a swarm. This method 

 of; preventing swarming requires 

 great accuracy of measurement, for a 

 very trifling deviation from the di- 

 mensions given will either shut out 

 the loaded worker, or let out the 

 queen. These (adjusted) blocks, if 

 firmly fastened, will exclude mice 

 from the hive in winter. AVhen used 

 to prevent all swarming, it will be 

 necessary to adjust them a little after 

 sunrise and before sunset, to allow 

 the bees to carry out any drones that 

 have died.'' 



In my second edition (1858), page 

 202, referring to this device, I say : 



" By this arrangement, all swarm- 

 ing on Sunday, or any other day when 

 the apiarian does not desire it, "may be 

 prevented." 



Also, page 203,— 



" It also may be found, on further 

 experiment, that the entrances to all 

 the spare honey-receptacles may be so 

 adjusted that the queens will never be 

 able to enter them for the purpose of 

 depositing eggs." 



Also, page 202,— 



" A very important use may be 

 made of blocks thus aiTanged, to get 

 rid of the drones. In that part of the 

 day when they are in full flight, ad- 

 just the blocks so that they cannot 

 enter. Toward dark, or early next 

 morning, they will be found spralwed 

 out upon the alighting-board, or hang- 

 ing ill clusters under the portico, and 

 may be given to chickens, which can 

 easily be taught to devour them. In 

 a few days nearly all the drones in 

 the apiary may be thus destroyed." 



• Huber does not give the size necessary for con- 

 tlniiig a queen, but he spoke of a gi-ass tube ad- 

 justed so as to pass out a worker, and not a queen. 

 The snjallest queen 1 ever saw could not Eet 

 through my blocks. Althoufjh tlie workers are at 

 first slightly annoyed by them, they soon become 

 accostomed to tbein. as they do not confuse them 

 by presenting the entrance in a new place. The 

 ventilatiim not depending on this contracted en- 

 trance, abundance of air ran be given to the bees 

 when the blocks are adjusted so as to ccmflne the 

 queen. Ill-health f^>r the last two summers has 

 prevnted nie from giving this method of prevent- 

 ing swarming such a full trial that I can endorse 

 it. except fnr tempfirary purp(jses * * * 

 A THEOKV which may seem so plausible as almost 

 to amount to positive demonstration, may be en- 

 cumbered by sonio unforeseen difficulty, which 

 speedily convinces even the most sanguine that it 

 has no practical value. 



Further experience showing that it 

 was often quite difficult to maintain 

 the .5-32 of an inch by depressions cut 

 in the entrance-regulating "blocks, I 

 fastened a few 5-32 strips with clinch- 

 ing nails between two pieces, each 

 141^ incli long (the length of the usual 

 entrance), the lower strip having two 

 bevels to facilitate the exit and en- 

 trance of the bees. A central hole, 

 governed by a cork, allowed dead 

 drones to be easily dragged out, or a 

 young queen to fly for mating. Still 

 the bees would worry from having to 

 crawl too far under such narrow di- 

 mensions. At last the 5-32 was cut in 

 a thin metal strip, and such a device 

 enabled me both to prevent my costly 

 imported queens from eloping, or nui- 

 iiing the risk of being destroyed by 

 stray queens. 



On a recent visit to the large apiar- 

 ies of my friend, Mr. D. A. Jones, of 

 Beeton, Ontario, I saw all the points, 

 on which I had labored so long, car- 

 ried out in a much more satisfactory 

 manner by means or his perforated 

 zinc plates. His bee-guards, made of 

 these plates, allow the workers to pass 

 in the freest possible manner, while 

 the ventilation of the hive is not in 

 the least interfered with. The only 

 improvement in them which I can 

 suggest would be to punch out a cen- 

 tral hole, governed as in my device, by 

 a small cork. These can be adjusted 

 in a few moments, and Sunday swarm- 

 ing, or swarming on any day not con- 

 venient, be prevented without at all 

 worrying the bees. By them, all liad 

 or supernuous drones may lie quietly 

 destroyed, by shaking off the bees 

 from their combs, in front of their 

 hive, the queen, of course, being 

 properly rescued. Some may find 

 this the easiest way, more especially 

 with black bees, for finding a queen, 

 or of making it absolutely sure that 

 there is none in a colony to which we 

 wish to introduce a valuable queen. 

 Mr. Jones uses sheets of this perfor- 

 ated zinc to confine the queen to the 

 lower story of the hive, or to any de- 

 sired part of the brood-chamber, so 

 that she cannot enter the surplus 

 honey receptacles. These sheets also 

 prevent the bees from building small 

 combs between the upper and lower 

 sets of frames — a thing which has 

 often caused so much trouble in liives 

 where more than one story is used. 



I see no reason why sections for 

 comb honey may not be set to the 

 best advantage' directly on these 

 sheets. Before giving up my apiary, 

 I found that small boxes were much 

 more readily filled by Italian bees,wheii 

 put directly on top of the frames : and 

 that, however admirably the shallow 

 chamber answered for black bees, the 

 Italians plainly wanted nothing to do 

 with it. Howmuch time and money 

 have been spent in trying to contro"l 

 the mating of our queens ! As far as 

 practical results are concerned, have 

 we advanced at all beyond the Kohle 

 process, given so many years ago in 

 the AjiiiiucAN Bee .Journal, by 

 which young queens and drones from 

 a selected colony were made to fly later 

 ill the day th.an the other drones V 

 May we not, by Mr. Jones' bee-"uards, 

 make a still closer approximation to 



the mating of our queens with om- 

 best drones V If we are not liable to 

 be troubled by drones outside of our 

 owii apiaries, how easily we can shut 

 in those that we do not desire to breed 

 from ! or, if troubled by drones from 

 bees in the woods, or from colonies too 

 near us, we can confine our young 

 queens, and the drones of selected 

 colonies, until it is so late in the after- 

 noon that other drones have ceased to 

 fly ; then by pom-ing a little thin sugar 

 syrup into the proper colonies, we can 

 quickly tempt lioth queens and drones 

 to take wing with the excited work- 

 ers. As the power to control the 

 mating of our queens is fully as im- 

 portant as the control of the same 

 point in our domestic animals, I shall 

 never cease to believe that, sooner or 

 later, we shall obtain the desired re- 

 sult. 



The care with which queens and 

 drones can be confined by the Jones 

 bee-guards, without at all lessening 

 the ventilation of the hive, and with 

 the minimum of interference with any 

 of the labors of the colony, promises 

 to open a wide field for many impor- 

 tant processes. It may now be pos- 

 sible, in the hands of careful breeders, 

 not only to keep different races or 

 bees pure in the same apiary, but to 

 build up permanently any desired 

 cross between the different races. 



Few bee-keepers, who keep up vrttli 

 the modern improvements, are ignor- 

 ant of the great services of Mr. Jones, 

 in searching the world, at great ex- 

 pense, to procure the best bees. By 

 his great enterprise he has done more 

 than any one living, to make Ameri- 

 can bee-keeping known in the Old 

 World. We have been much slower, 

 however, to recognize how much he 

 has done for practical apiculture by 

 his many ingenious devices, and, most 

 of all, by the costly experiments and 

 machinery by which he secured for 

 us his perforated metal sheets. 



Oxford, O., Nov., 1883. 



1^ The Ohio bee-keepers will hold 

 their annual convention in Columbus, 

 O., Jan. 14, 15 and 16, 1884. All in- 

 terested in bee-culture are invited. 

 The following subjects will be dis- 

 cussed ; " How to winter bees suc- 

 cessfully.'" " Are the new races of 

 bees a success?" " What can we do 

 to prevent adulteration of honey ?" 

 " How to create a home market for 

 honey." " How many colonies can be 

 kept 'in one locality?" "Can we do 

 without separators ?" " Which are 

 best, deep or shallow frames ?" "AVliat 

 shall we do with second swarms V" 

 " How many brood frames are neces- 

 sary in a hive ?" •'Which is the most 

 salable section, one-half, one or two 

 pounds ?" " Is it advisable for all 

 liee-keepers to adopt a standard size 

 of frame ?" " What is the most de- 

 sirable width of sections ?" 



The above questions will be dis- 

 cussed by eminent men, such as Rev. 

 L. L. Langstroth, Dr. Besse, S. D. 

 Eiegel and others, and in addition to 

 the above. Prof. Lizenliy, of the Ohio 

 University, will deliver a lecture on 

 " Honey-producing plants :'' also Mrs. 

 Jennie Gulp will read an essay. 



C. M. KiNGSBURT, Sec. 



