1907 



GLEANl^■GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



The fact that these large brood-chambers 

 only delay swarraing, and do not prevent it, 

 makes the matter still worse. It were far 

 better if they had swarmed before they had 

 begun work in the supers, for now the user 

 of these hives finds himself in possession of 

 a lot of partly filled sections from which to 

 extract the honey, since his hive is no better 

 suited to feeding back to have them finished 

 than it is for hiving swai'ms. 



That there are locations so good that even 

 these large fixed-brood-chamber hives will 



five good results in comb-honey production, 

 am free to admit. It is no less true, how- 

 ever, that there are hundreds of locations, 

 including my own, where it would be impos- 

 sible to produce comb honey with such a 

 hive. Many of us are compelled to meet 

 changed conditions; and where, a few years 

 ago, there was an abundance of bass wood 

 timber, to-day such timber is scarce and is 

 growing painfully less each year; and, owing 

 to intensive farming, our one-time bee-pas- 

 ture is now under the plow, and the producer 

 of comb honey is compelled to adopt an im- 

 proved system— -one that will enable him to 

 take advantage of a very short honey-flow 

 and get all the honey in the sections, or else 

 go out of the business and produce extracted 

 honey, as many have been compelled to do 

 in my vicinity. All this has a tendency to 

 create a better demand for comb honey; and 

 the bee-keeper who can produce it will find 

 a ready market at a good round price. It 

 is just as easy to produce comb honey as 

 extracted if you know how. 



SWARMING — WHAT IS IT? 



Swarming is nature's plan for the perpet- 

 uation of the existence of the honey-bee, and 

 is governed by certain laws which, to break, 

 would often result in the complete destruc- 

 tion of the swarm. If this were not the case, 

 and if bees could swarm at will, there would 

 not be a colony of bees in existence to-day. 

 Bees are intricate machines, and it is the 

 height of folly for any one to expect to be 

 able to solve the perplexing problems of suc- 

 cessful apiculture without a correct knowl- 

 edge of the nature and instincts of the bees, 

 and also of the forces that control their acts; 

 for if the diagnosis is wrong the medicine 

 must of necessity be wrong; and, instead of 

 effecting a cure, will only aggravate the dis- 

 ease. 



There are two forces that govern or con- 

 trol the act of swarming. One is external, 

 and is a combination of natural influences, 

 all of which maybe controlled by man; how- 

 ever, external influences could not compel 

 the issuing of a natural swarm of bees with- 

 out the cooperating power of the internal 

 force, which is instinct; and, on the other 

 hand, even though all preparations have been 

 made for the issuing of a swarm, if the exter- 

 nal pressure is suddenly withdrawn the com- 

 bination is broken up and the bees will not 

 swarm, although queen-cells are well under 

 way. A certain law foi'bids it without the 

 cooperation of the external influences. 



Therefore the issuing of a natural swarm 

 of bees is the result of united and harmonious 



action on the part of both the external and 

 internal influences. 



HOW CAN WE PREVENT SWARMING? IN- 

 STINCTS OF BEES ALWAYS THE SAME. 



Every effect has its preceding cause, and 

 the same causes will produce swarming irre- 

 spective of location. The word locality is 

 becoming too often used to cover a multitude 

 of extravagant claims. We should bear in 

 mind, however, that, in solving the problem 

 of swarm control, we are not dealing simply 

 with the little bee, that we may easuy crush 

 between thumb and finger, but with nature, 

 which neither time nor location can ever 

 change. Instincts first implanted by the 

 hand of the Ci'eator have passed through cen- 

 turies of time unimpaired to the pi'esent day, 

 and will continue unchanged through all fu- 

 ture time, notwithstanding all talk about 

 breeding out the swarming impulse— as well 

 try to breed a drone to lay eggs! 



Man can not destroy nature, yet he may 

 and does in a thousand different ways de- 

 feat her plans by removing the causes which 

 she uses to bring about certain results. This 

 is the key to the problem of perfect swarm 

 control, and will be fully demonstrated far- 

 ther along in our season's work in the apiary. 



Although you have the key to the problem, 

 yet, unless the principles involved in the con- 

 struction of your hives will admit of the 

 manipulations necessary to enable you to 

 keep the brood-chamber clear of honey, you 

 are not yet master of the situation. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



SI j Pointers troiu itie rear m si 

 "^^^ thtBee-r-— 



rLDGnrTHE^upes: 



THE TOAD THAT WOULD NOT TAKE A BLUFF. 



Last year a big fat motherly-looking toad 

 established her domicile under one of my 

 Danzenbaker hives at the back of the apiary 

 — no objection to that. In the evening, just 

 after the sun went down, I would sit out 

 there watching the late-returning bees as 

 they struggled into the entrance. Where the 

 old-style bottom-board was used, many bees 

 fell short, and some were unable to get in. 

 They would try to climb in, and then would 

 rest awhile and try again. They seemed to 

 tell me that that was their last load, and if 

 they could only deliver that safely they would 

 be willing to die. I could never see a bee 

 trying that but that I always helped it in. 



Where the wide alighting-board was used 

 they had no trouble. One evening, as I sat 

 there with the musical hum of the bees in 

 my ear, out came my friend, the toad. Around 

 she hopped, lapping up flies, bugs, and some- 

 times accidentally a straw or stick. The lat- 



