MAKING RAPID INCREASE HI 



strong colony toward the end of the season and use them to 

 strengthen the little colonies that have been building up from 

 the nuclei formed from the earlier divisions. When the season 

 of honey production is nearly over, a frame of sealed brood may 

 be taken from a strong colony w^ithout injuring it in the least, as 

 the bees will emerge too late for the honey flow and the colony 

 will already be sufficiently strong to winter well. At the same 

 time emerging brood will do wonders for the weak ones if given 

 a short time before the honey flow ceases, and will be valuable 

 at any time. 



If a large amount of increase is made in one season it will be 

 necessary to make a liberal allowance for expenses of queens, and 

 foundation, and considerable feeding of honey or sugar are also 

 likely to be necessary. Unless one has had considerable experi- 

 ence with bees, too rapid increase is likely to lead to disaster. 

 For the average person the Alexander plan is perhaps the safest 

 that can be recommended. It is better to undertake to make but 

 two colonies from one at most, unless it is done by experts of 

 long experience. If this division is made early and the two 

 colonies become strong again while there is a considerable period 

 of honey flow still to come, the same operation can be repeated 

 a second time, thus giving four colonies in all from one to start 

 with. There are important factors in making increase that are 

 not readily apparent to the novice, even though he read direc- 

 tions carefully, and he should be content to go slow and advance 

 surely rather than take the risk of closing the season with fewer 

 colonies that he began it with. 



Making Rapid Increase. — The following account of Dr. 

 Miller's method of increasing from nine colonies to fifty-six in 

 one season will show the possibilities of making rapid increase 

 in a favorable season: 



On June 12 the best queen in the apiary was taken from her 

 hive and placed on a set of empty combs. Her brood was removed 

 to the stand of another colony, which in turn was moved to a 

 new location. There were thus three colonies instead of two. 



