498 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the center, it does not hasten brood- 

 rearing very much, if any, but tends to 

 scatter the brood, and if it turns cold, 

 some of the outside brood may chill. 



During the last eight or ten years 

 there have been four or five times when 

 the combs were not returned to the hives 

 fast enough ; generally by neglect. 

 What was the consequence ? Well, it 

 was this : The five or six combs were 

 found thoroughly crowded with brood 

 and bees, little ridges of new comb 

 started here and there, and in a large 

 number of hives queen-cells were under 

 way. 



It is seldom that I desire any swarm at 

 all. I prefer to run the colonies straight 

 through the season, in full force. Now, 

 when these colonies were found with 

 queen-cells started for swarming, the 

 division-boards were moved further 

 away, and four or five more combs put 

 in at once. 



Did they preserve the cells and cast 

 a swarm, after the addition of combs 

 and the enlargement of the brood-cham- 

 ber ? They did not. Not one colony in 

 75 swarmed. In less than three days 

 all these queen-cells were emptied of 

 their contents. 



What became of the eggs and larviB 

 that the queen-eells contained? I be- 

 lieve the bees removed them. I never 

 believed that these colonies had the 

 "swarming fever." Still, in all prob- 

 ability they would have swarmed if 

 allowed to remain in their contracted 

 condition. 



At other times cells were far enough 

 along to be capped when the original 

 brood-combs were distributed amongst 

 three times their number of empty 

 combs and foundation, and they swarmed 

 just the same. Even if the cells were 

 cut out, they started more and swarmed. 



"A stitch in time saves nine," runs 

 the old adage, and it is no more applica- 

 ble anywhere than in the prevention of 

 swarming. The way to apply it is to 

 destroy the cells as soon as started, 

 instead of destroying them after they 

 are finished. It would be still more 

 advantageous to prevent eggs ever being 

 placed in the cups. 



If there is empty comb, either for the 

 storage of honey or the rearing of brood, 

 close to the brood-nest all the time, not 

 one colony in fifty swarms. 



In most systems of management the 

 brood-chamber remains undisturbed 

 from the Spring until the honey harvest, 

 containing from 8 to 10 combs, and in 

 this space the honey and brood must 

 crowd each other. If sections are put 

 on, they are an empty, unenticing apart- 



ment, that bees have no use for, just 

 before the harvest, and it is so difficult 

 to crowd bees into them through the 

 bee-spaces and honey-boards that they 

 choose to hang out at the entrance in- 

 stead. This is when the " swarming 

 fever " rises. 



The best way is to use a hive of the 

 capacity of 12 to 14 combs, and keep 

 spreading the colony by inserting empty 

 combs, or wide frames of sections, be- 

 tween the brood-combs until, when the 

 honey harvest begins one is not required 

 to put on the surplus receptacles all at 

 once, in one or two days, but work them 

 into the hives gradually, and when the 

 harvest arrives in earnest the strongest 

 colonies will already be in the surplus 

 receptacles — will have gotten acquainted 

 with them, and be ready to bring in the 

 honey. 



It may be truthfully said that bees do 

 not swarm until they get their hives 

 crowded with brood, bees and honey ; 

 and few hives in use are large enough 

 to prevent this. But why are hives too 

 small ? The hives are calculated to be 

 of such size that they may become so 

 full of brood that nearly all the honey 

 gathered must be stored outside the 

 brood-chamber — that is, it would be 

 forced outside the brood-chamber into 

 marketable combs. 



The bees do not pass from the brood- 

 chamber into a super near so readily as 

 from on« comb to another in the lower 

 hive. In 1882 I had so much difficulty 

 in getting the bees into the sections that 

 I filled two hives half full of division- 

 boards and half full of brood-combs, 

 and then filled a section rack half full of 

 sections, and placed the sections between 

 the two hives. After that I divided my 

 hives horizontally 5 inches in depth, like 

 Mr. Heddon's new hive. All this was to 

 get the empty sections located between 

 the brood-combs. 



After traversing in the upward direc- 

 tion for awhile, I concluded there were 

 entirely too many sections in a super to 

 alternate with the brood in any manner. 

 The intention was to make the bees 

 work in the sections drawing out the 

 foundation when there was not very 

 much honey coming in, or if they were 

 going to hang outside the brood-nest to 

 hang in the sections. In some instances, 

 in the case of the divided brood-cham- 

 bers, sections had the foundation built 

 out only at the top and bottom where 

 they came near the upper and lower 

 brood apartments, and sometimes 2 or 3 

 sections were worked out as a road or 

 "runway" between the brood apart- 

 ments. 



