548 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



HOAV TO DISPOSE OP NEW SWARMS 

 AND THUS CONTROL UNDESIR- 

 ABLE INCREASE. 



How the Plan on Page 1058 may be Fol- 

 lowed when the Hives are in 

 Hoiise-apiaries. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



[As some of our readers may not have handy our 

 August 15th issue of last year, containing the article 

 to which our correspondent refers on page 1058. in the 

 subjoined, we will state that the plan is one that al- 

 lows the first swarm to issue, which swarm is finally 

 reunited with the parent colony in such a way that 

 there will be no further swarming, the two forces 

 working together unitedly as one colony to produce a 

 crop of honey. The plan is, in brief, as follows: 



When the swarm comes forth it is hived on frames 

 of foundation. The hive containing it is then placed 

 on top of the parent colony, but with the entrance in 

 the opposite direction. On the evening of the fourth 

 day the newly hived swarm with its partly drawn 

 comb is lifted off and set to one side temporarily. 

 The parent, colony is now opened up. the combs are all 

 removed, and shaken two or three feet from the old 

 hive-entrance. After they are clear of bees they are 

 inspected carefully, and any queen-cells found are de- 

 stroyed, after which the combs are put back in the 

 old hive. The newly drawn combs of the swarm in 

 the hive set aside temporarily are next shaken right 

 over the first lot of bees. The queen is hunted up, 

 when she is started for the entrance of the old hive. 

 The bees of the two shakings mingle together, finally 

 crawl into the parent hive, and begin housekeeping 

 anew as if nothing had happened. Perforated zinc is 

 then put over the hive, when the partly drawn comb 

 of the swarm is placed on top in a super. If extract- 

 ed honey is not the object, a comb-honey super is put 

 on instead. 



The philosophy of the plan is that the natural bent 

 of the bees to swarm is satisfied. The honey in their 

 honey-sacs has been converted into wax and built out 

 into combs. Cells of tl"e parent colony have disap- 

 peared. The old queen goes to work as if nothing had 

 happened. 



Mr. Alexander explains that this plan is, in his ex- 

 perience, almost infallible in keeping down increase 

 and preventing further swarming; and. further, that 

 the two united forces will produce more than the two 

 forces run separately in separate hives. In comment- 

 ing on this method Mr, Alexander writes as follows:] 



Since my article on page 1058 was pub 

 lished, giving our way of treating undesir- 

 able increase, several letters of inquiry have 

 been received as to how that method could 

 be applied to colonies kept in a close hovise- 

 apiary. Yesterday I received a letter from 

 my friend, Wm. Hesse, of Dresden, Ger- 

 many, wishing some more light on this sub- 

 ject "from me thi*ough the medium of Glean- 

 ings, for those who are keeping their bees, 

 like himself, in close buildings. I can see no 

 reason why this method would not be practi- 

 cal when applied to house-apiaries. All that 

 will be necessary is to make a temporary 

 stand for the new swarm as near as possible 

 to the parent colony on the outside of the 

 building, only have the new swarm face in 

 the opposite direction, so that they will real- 

 ize they have a new location. Then in four 



days remove all queen-cells from the parent 

 colony and mix up the bees of the new swarm 

 with those of the old colony as best you can, 

 usinj;" some smoke so as to demoralize them 

 as they are again united into one large colo- 

 ny. Then remove the temporary stand that 

 the new swarm occupied, and the bees will 

 soon locate anew in their old home. 



I do hope every bee-keeper in the land, 

 who does not care for increase, will give this 

 method of treating undesirable swarms a 

 thorough trial another season. With us it is 

 the easiest way we have ever tried to keep 

 down increase, and at the same time have 

 all colonies strong in bees and maturing 

 brood to make them still stronger in their 

 working force; and certainly they will work 

 with more perseverance, and give us moie 

 surplus, than when kept from swarming l>y 

 removing queen-cells, whi(^h puts them in a 

 sulking condition, wasting much of their 

 time through our best harvests, which we 

 should always try to avoid. 



Delanson, N. Y. 



[We do not quite see how this plan can be 

 worked satisfactorily in a house-apiary, but 

 perhaps it can. The general features of the 

 plan, on outdoor colonies at least, seem to 

 suggest that it may be a good one to prac- 

 tice. As so many of Mr. Alexander's idea.s 

 have worked out satisfactorily we may well 

 atford to give this a fair test, — Ed.] 



THE COUNTER ATTRACTION OF OUT- 

 DOOR FEEDING. 



How all Manner of Work was Successfully 



Done During: the Time of a Dearth of 



Honey, Without any Robbing. 



BY WM. M EVOY. 



The honey crop being almost a complete 

 failure in my locality I concluded to extract 

 all the honey, and feed sugar syrup for win- 

 ter stores. As all thesupershad to betaken 

 off and the honey extracted, and 2.'i0 colonies 

 fed, I saw that I had to begin about the 25th 

 of August, which I did, so as to get all fitted 

 up in good time. The weather was very 

 warm just then, and the bees not gathering 

 any honey, and over 200 of these colonies 

 were right in the center of our village. To 

 open hivee and expose honey at such a time 

 would set the bees to robbing, and cause them 

 to become very troublesome to my neighbors 

 if this work was not managed so as to turn 

 the attention of the bees from the colonies 

 that 1 was going to work with. 



About one hour before sundown I put Por- 

 ter bee-escapes under the supers: and, to get 

 the bees to ry/sh out, and have the super.s 

 ready to take off in the morning, I lifted a 

 few of the combs up about one inch, and let 

 them down again. In the mornings I set out 

 (about twelve rods from the apiary) a dozen 

 or more hives with combs in for the bees to 

 clean out. I took half of the combs out and 

 spread the rest well apart so that the bees 

 could get freely at them without getting 



