THE MBIERICSH BE® ja^RNSlU. 



395 



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When this spaee becomes ci-owded, 

 and the bees are forced to the outside 

 for room, loaliiig in large numbers, 

 clustering on tlie outside of the hive 

 will take place. If this occurs during 

 the honey flow, it shows that some- 

 thing is wrong; that room is required, 

 and I prefer, rather than to add 

 another story to the hive, to swarm 

 them naturally if possible, and thus 

 have them divided into colonies. If 

 the above is correct, the reader will 

 readily understand what it takes to 

 make a prosperous colony secure the 

 best results. 



In order to prevent all swarms that 

 may not be desired, in most eases it is 

 only necessary to keep down the con- 

 struction of queen-cells. Swarming 

 may be verj' easily foretold from six 

 to eight da3-s, by the construction of 

 queen-cells. The destruction of these 

 cells will discourage swarming, and in 

 most cases prohibit it. But in rare 

 exceptions bees will sometimes persist 

 in i.ssuing, even if queen-cells are not 

 present, especially after frequent an- 

 noyance by removing their cells, from 

 the fact that their leaving the parent 

 colony in this condition does not in- 

 jure it. If brood is present, their ex- 

 cuse for so doing may be deemed rea- 

 sonable, but as this will at once check 

 the process of storing surplus, the 

 point aimed at, it is necessary that we 

 keep them together, and the only way 

 we can make a sure thing of it is to 

 take away their qiieen. This is a never 

 failing remedy to check swarming at 

 the time. 



If an abundance of young brood is 

 present in the hive, I cannot see that 

 it will do an}- particular harm, but as 

 a general thing this is a preventive 

 only for the present, for if tlie honey- 

 flow continues there will likelj- be 

 another effort made to swarm eight 

 days thereafter. Queen-cells con- 

 structed from the brood left after the 

 removal of the queen, will at this 

 period be maturing, and swarms may 

 be the result. At this stage of pro- 

 ceedings we have made the best pro- 

 gress by removing all queens or cells, 

 and introducing a laying queen. 



Another plan we have used, wliich 

 may be equally as good with those per- 

 sistent swarmers, is to allow them to 

 swarm, hive them in a new location, 

 and strengthen them up ready for 

 occupying the surplus boxes at once, 

 by drawing from either of these left, 

 or other colonies. If, on the other 

 band, we wish to increase oiu- number 

 of colonies somewhat, and at tlie same 

 time secure a fair crop of honey, we 

 would manage to have all strong, as 

 near the swarming point as possible at 

 the opening of the honey flow. In fact, 

 it matters not what particular method 

 of management we intend to adopt for 



the season, it is of the greatest impor- 

 tance in any case to have strong colo- 

 nies at the commencement. 



Doubling the number of colonies is 

 a fair increase. This we can do, and 

 at the same time secure a fair crop of 

 hone,}-, and wo would do this by allow- 

 ing the first swarms to issue. I think 

 this better than dividing, if salable 

 surplus honey is the object, together 

 with a fatr increase. 



If we expect to make increase the 

 sole object, we would manage quite 

 differently. We would work entirely 

 on the artificial plan of increasing by 

 dividing. Previous arrangements 

 should be made in rearing queens so 

 that the supply is at hand at the time 

 of operating. In making these divi- 

 sions we should not separate into too 

 many parts at one time. A colony 

 divided into two is enough at once. 

 Each queenless half should be pro- 

 vided with a laying queen, thus keep- 

 ing each part strong, and furnished 

 with laying queens. This keeps up a 

 large portion of the brood at all times, 

 and doubles the laying forces by the 

 addition of an extra queen at each 

 division. 



When dividing a colony into manj^ 

 parts at one time, it weakens each part 

 so that even if laying queens are 

 furnished, the amount of brood-comb 

 in which to depost eggs is limited ac- 

 cording to the strength of the colony. 

 Hence comes the necessity of having 

 each part as strong as possible, there- 

 l)y accommodating the queen with 

 room according to her laying capacity. 

 The secret of .success is in dividing 

 more frequently, and not making so 

 many parts at once out of the same 

 colony. 



A strong colony divided into two 

 parts may be divided again ihto four 

 parts, in six or eight days, when it 

 may be kept uj) every ten or twelve 

 days thereafter, being governed en- 

 tirely by the flow of honey, which may 

 be either natural or artificial. 



LARGE HIVES. 



Honey-Boards, Contraction, Pol- 

 len in Section§, etc. 



Written for the American BeeJouraal 



BY .J.AMES HEDDON. 



Without consuming more .space than 

 is necessar}-, I wish to say that all the 

 points made against the usefulness of 

 mj' hive bj- Messrs. Dadant and Ham- 

 baugh have been fully answered over 

 and over again, more especially so by 

 quotations from patent law, found on 

 page 21.3 of the Bke Journal for 1886. 

 If the reader will read and carefully 

 consider them, he will see the truth of 

 this statement. 



With reference to Dr. Tinker's arti- 

 cle on page 380, no one can say but 

 that he is entirely correct, but it is 

 sometimes very hard for human na- 

 ture to use pleasant words and kind 

 sentences in response to those who are 

 doing them an injury. A truth cannot 

 be told harshly enough to make it 

 false, nor can a falsehood be told 

 kindly enough to make it true. 



Coutraedou of Brood-Chambers. 



Brother Tinker says : " Probably no 

 man in this country has had a larger 

 or more varied experience in the con- 

 traction of brood-chambers in the past 

 five years than the writer." I am 

 quite sure that I can prove that either 

 Mr. E. J. Oatman or myself have had 

 more than twenty times the experi- 

 ence in contracting that the Doctor 

 has had. I am informed that Dr. 

 Tinker has never really used divisible 

 brood-chamber hives. 



I desire to make these facts known 

 in justice to us both : Soon after I 

 made public my late invention. Dr. 

 Tinker purchased a hive of me, and 

 wrote me that he did not wish to use 

 my invention as I had made it, but 

 would use a portion of my principles, 

 and sent me a model of the hives he 

 was using, which had a brood-chamber 

 of one section, composed of seven 

 close-fitting frames, shallower than the 

 Langstroth hive. A brood-chamber of 

 too little capacity for all seasons of the 

 year, and the very thing which the 

 Doctor has been using ever since, 

 when he suddenly departed from his 

 " continuous-passage-way hive," adopt- 

 ing one on the principle of mine, 

 arranging with me to use it for one 

 year. 



Pollen In tbe Sections. 



But for arguments sake, suppose the 

 Doctor really had experimented with 

 my hive in its purity, the one wliich 

 he refers to on page 330, and suppose 

 he really had any evidence that tliere 

 was J too little room in the contracted 

 brood-chamber, which caused the bees 

 to cany pollen above, and that the 

 bee-space in the center of the brood- 

 nest proved an impediment to exten- 

 sive brood rearing, we can but regret 

 that he lives in such a peculiar loca- 

 tion, or has such exceptionally obsti- 

 nate bees that everything works so 

 differently with him than with a hun- 

 dred others who have reported pub- 

 licly and privately. 



I think three or four have reported 

 " pollen in the sections " one year, Init 

 there are quite frequently years in 

 which this occurs with all hives. Who 

 has not seen surplus honey nearly 

 ruined with bee-bread in da3'S when 

 nearly all the hives used were from 14 

 to 20 inches deep ? Some way or 

 other, as we have adopted shallow and 

 shallower hives, we have in exact pro- 



