408 TWE KMB'RICKM miJB- 



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commence work in it sooner. In this 

 way very large crops of extracted 

 honey may be talicn, but the hives 

 shoiiid be kept cool. 



We do not care to set ours more 

 than i inches from the ground. The 

 honey should be extracted as fast as 

 ripened, and if the swarm issues it 

 may be returned, two or three of the 

 brood-combs taken out of the brood- 

 chamber and put up in one of the 

 up])er hives where the brood will 

 hatch. By putting two or three 

 empty combs in their place, thus giv- 

 ing tiie colony more room, will usually 

 cause them to remain. We had many 

 colonies last year oceui^ying over 10,- 

 000 cubic inches of room. 



After the honey season began to 

 close, and there was very little honey 

 coming in, we tried an experiment to 

 see if it would give them the swarm- 

 ing fever, or if thej' would build 

 queen-cells — by taking off the top 

 supers and crowding them down. 

 This proved just what we anticipated. 

 In taking off the supers where comb 

 honey was being gathered, and any 

 signs of queen-cells appeared, remov- 

 ing one or two supers, and crowding 

 the bees down, caused them to start 

 queen-cells at once. In one instance, 

 by removing all the supers containing 

 sections, and crowding them down, 

 we thought they were nicety settled in 

 the hive, but the next day they made 

 pre]3arations to swarm ; in fact, one of 

 these immense colonies we found was 

 just the place to rear a lot of good 

 queens. One occupj'ing sa}' 10,000 

 cubic inches crowded down to 5,000 

 would build a large number of fine 

 queen-cells, and we were able to create 

 the swarming impulse, when such did 

 not exist previously to the crowding. 



We once were acquainted with a 

 party who prcjmred a special place for 

 bees in a building. Each place was 

 about 3 feet square, or over 40,000 

 cubic inches. Although he had a num- 

 ber of tiicse places all along the side 

 of a building, and each one contained 

 bees, and were very strong, each 

 working out on a spout of their own, 

 they weve so arranged that tHe rays of 

 tlic sun did not strike on them. The 

 hives always kept moderately cool in 

 summer, and fairly wai-m in winter. 

 Somi- of these apartments were tilled 

 witli comb and honey, others were not 

 filh'd at all, but tliere was no swarm- 

 ing for years. If our memory sor\-cs 

 lis lightly, we think there never was 

 moi'e than about one swarm issued. 



us to be, giving them room at the 

 proper time, not allowing them to be- 



conie overcrowded, but only continu- 

 ing t6 keep them in a prosperous con- 

 dition, adding room in proportion to 

 the strength and increase of the col- 

 ony. Better give them too much room 

 in the honey season than too little 

 when the surplus has to be taken by 

 the extractor. 



Another point is, if the supers are 

 allowed to become capped over, or 

 nearly so, before the honey is ex- 

 tracted, they are also liable to swarm, 

 but as soon as one is capped, it may 

 be extracted and set away and another 

 put in its jilace. Some might argue 

 that this required a large stock of 

 combs, but these combs are a good in- 

 vestment, and at any time when de- 

 sired, they can be used for increase. 



Just here comes a point that has 

 something to do in the matter. After 

 the queen is being crowded up and 

 ■given less room for egg-laying, the 

 increase enables everj' worker to do 

 its best towards gathering the crop. 

 Now this excessive work wears out the 

 lives of the old bees much faster, and 

 they die much sooner than they would 

 if they had their hives filled with 

 honey, and had only to lay out on the 

 hive to rest themselves. 



Thus it will be seen that the breed- 

 ing space is only large enough to keep 

 u]) with the mortality of the hive, and 

 the rapid increase in the colony does 

 not appear on account of the extra 

 c(jmb given them. Then in a short 

 time the mortality becomes as great 

 or greater than the increase, and this, 

 we think, is a point that has much to 

 do with keeping down the swarming 

 fever. 



Should the honey crop be an average 

 one, at the end of the season the col- 

 ony is not as strong in bees as they 

 were at the commencement. This 

 .system of keeping down the produc- 

 tion of bees, and of having a large 

 number of young bees hatching after 

 the honey harvest is over, is one that 

 should be practiced at least in this 

 section, as it saves a large amount of 

 honey that would otherwise be con- 

 suniexl in brood-rearing, which, as we 

 liave said heretofore, is quite unprofit- 

 able at this particular season. 



LEG-ISLATION. 



iinh'.-s some did so unkn 

 owner ; lint we scaveely 



own to the 

 think that 



would be likely. 



We have known other instani-es 

 wlicrc the apartments were not (]uite 

 so large, and the b(!es swarmed after 

 filling thcni. Now the points seem to 



The Survival of tlie FiUest, the 

 Risht to the Soil, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY WM. J. WILLEE. 



Mr. Camm as witness (not supreme 

 judge) for the defense of the present 

 way (not system) of gathering nectar, 

 gives his evidence on page 84t). 



Some claim that it would be a mo- 

 nopoly. If it is a monopoly to have 

 partial control of a part of this coun- 

 try, then I am a monopolist, for I have 

 partial control of a farm, the United 

 States of America being the other 

 part}'. 



Others say, leave it to the survival 

 of the fittest — fittest what ? I think 

 that Mr. Camm gives us a good idea 

 of wliat is really meant, when he men- 

 tions leaving it to the winter to kill off 

 those not able to stand the drouth, or 

 in other words, "the survival of the 

 fittest." I do not think that the present 

 way shows who is the fittest. 



We will suppose that Mr. Heddon 

 (and no one doubts but what he has 

 ability) owned only 100 colonies of 

 bees, money enough to run him one 

 year, and pasturage enough within 

 reach to pay him for handling the bees. 

 Now there may happen to be a few 

 farmers and men in other occupations 

 who conclude to dabble in honey. They 

 own in all 200 colonies in log-hives. 

 Flowers, by their gay attire, advertise 

 for workers ; their motto being, " First 

 come, first served," whether from the 

 Heddon hive or log-gum. 



Mr. Heddon secures only one-third 

 of the nectar, it being barely enough 

 to keep the bees.^ He sells out and 

 leaves it to the survival of the fittest. 

 But a doctor, lawyer, any other pro- 

 fessional, or tradesman (we farmers 

 are protected) would not need pro- 

 tection, for his employers would have 

 it in their power to withhold the work 

 from others if he was the fittest man. 



If A was a doctor of ability, with a 

 good practice (bees in Heddon hives), 

 and B a quack doctor (bees in log- 

 gums) who undertook to run A out, 

 A's patients would say, A is a better 

 workman than you, and he is the man 

 that will do the work (fertilizing). 



If a man succeeds in bee-keeping, 

 he must have ability, but a man with 

 more bees than brains, may succeed 

 in crowding a titter man out, and be 

 no better off himself. If the legisla- 

 ture had left this country undivided 

 until plants had stopped wandering in 

 search of plant food, it would have 

 been undivided yet ; but being divided 

 we may have our farm all into elm 

 trees (I know they will go 4 rods each 

 way, and I think "they will go further 

 for food), and .still our next neighbor 

 has some chance to succeed. But 

 where would In- be if all the plant-food 

 were free to all, and he sowed wheat 

 on a piece of land to gather the nour- 

 ishment, and some one else sowed oats 

 on the same land, and so on ad infini- 

 tum ? 



Th's may be a crooked evidence, 

 but I have not been positive where I 

 ' could prove nothing. 

 i Sandusky, Mich. 



