1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



55 



breeding and if this Bangston plan 

 can be utilized successfully it will re- 

 sult in a great saving to queen breed- 

 ers. It is such a radical departure 

 from accepted methods that we hesi- 

 tate to recommend it without trial. 

 However, it is certainly worthy of a 

 test and we will be glad to know how 

 well other breeders succeed with the 

 plan. 



The Swarming Impulse 



By C. C. Miller 



I HAVE been much interested in 

 reading in November American 

 Bee Journal, page 379, the article 

 on "Swarm Impulse" by that always 

 interesting writer, Arthur C. Miller. 

 He objects to the growing tendency 

 to discard swarming-cells as inferior. 

 Time was when it was quite gener- 

 ally believed that such cells were su- 

 perior. Certainly one would expect 

 a colony preparing to swarm — since 

 swarminc practically always occurs 

 when conditions are of the very 

 best — should do its best at making 

 queen-cells. One proof that it does 

 so is the fact that in the cells left by 

 the young princesses there will al- 

 ways be found a remainder of dried 

 royal jelly, showing that during the 

 feeding period the royal larva had all 

 the food it could consume and some 

 to spare. On the other hand, when 

 the beekeeper takes matters into his 

 own hands, and induces the bees to 

 rear queen-cells, no such residue will 

 be found in the vacated cells. It 

 does not necessarily follow that in 

 the latter case the queen may not be 

 just as good as one that has been fed 

 a surplus, for what good can the sur- 

 plus do if it is not consumed? But 

 there is always the possibility that 

 in some cases the youngster might 

 have eaten a little more if it had had 

 it. 



So, although other cells may be as 

 good as swarming-cells reared by the 

 same colony, some of them may not 

 be, making the swarming-cells in gen- 

 eral the safer to choose. 



Mr. Miller winds up by saying: 

 "Save the 'swarming-cells,' if the 

 stock is good. The queens will not 

 inherit any swarming impulse." I'm 

 not sure I know for certain just what 

 is meant by that. If it means that 

 there is no more danger of having the 

 swarming tendency inherited through 

 swarming-cells than through cells 

 reared by the same colony, then I am 

 in hearty accord. If it means what 

 at first sight seems to be on the sur- 

 face, that when swarming-cells are 

 taken from a colony much given to 

 swarming the resulting young queens 

 will not inherit that tendency, then 

 Arthur C. and I are no longer on 

 speaking terms on that subject. Is 

 it not a fact that some varieties or 

 strains of bees are more given to 

 swarming than others, and that that 

 tendency is continued 'rom one gen- 

 eration to another? How else can it 

 be continued but by inheritance? In 

 that case will not the young queen 

 inherit the swarming tendency, what- 

 ever the kind of cells used? 



I wonder if my good friend would 

 not agree to stand with me on some 

 such platform as this : Don't be 



afraid to use swarming-cells from 

 any colony with which you are sat- 

 isfied, but if you don't want swarm- 

 ing colonies you will do well to breed 

 from those colonies which show least 

 inclination to swarming, and are at 

 the same time among the best in 

 other respects. 



Incidentally our friend has a the- 



ory that he is too "busy just now" to 

 divulge, and according to that theory 

 "when two cells of nearly the same 

 age are left, one is destroyed soon 

 after the first hatches, but not so 

 when one cell is very young, or just 

 started." I've always supposed it 

 was just the other way around. How 

 is it with others? 



FIFTY YEARS AGO— FAILURE VERSUS SUCCESS 



Charles Dadant, in the American Bee Journal 

 for February, 1869 



A few days of good harvest being sufficient for populous colonies to fill 

 their hives with honey, the whole secret lies in having strong stocks in 

 readiness to secure the harvest which those few days offer. 



Bees Self-Managed 



During the winter and spring, the 

 40 beekeepers within 2 miles around 

 my apiary let their hives remain on 

 their stands without interfering with 

 the bees. 



The last year's honey, in large 

 part consumed in the cold days of 

 winter, was soon used up in rearing 

 workers, together with a great num- 

 ber of drones. 



The weather being very wet from 

 April till the 10th of June, the bees 

 killed their drones, then already full- 

 grown, and the queens stopped lay- 

 ing almost entirely. The apple blos- 

 soms yielded no honey. The white 

 clover began blossoming on the 20th 

 of May and by the 10th of June more 

 than half of the blossoms were al- 

 ready withered. 



From the 10th of June the queens 

 resumed their laying, but the flying 

 of the bees on rainy days had re- 

 duced the population of the hives 

 and the brood consumed the honey 

 as fast as gathered. 



On the 1st of July the hives were 

 filled with brood and young bees ; as 

 the honey afterwards became scarce, 

 they mostly starved or remained 

 weak from want of sufficient nutri- 

 ment. 



From the 5th of July, the queens 

 stopped laying. The lindens had 

 blossomed 3 weeks earlier than usual. 

 Some hives swarmed late, but the 

 swarms and the parent stock re- 

 mained weak till winter. 



By the 10th of August the colonies 

 were again too weak for gathering 

 honey from summer flowers and from 

 fall flowers, buckwheat, etc. The 

 queens resumed laying, but, as in the 

 spring, nearly all the honey gathered 

 was consumed by the brood as rap- 

 idly as it was collected. 



On September 16 brood and young 

 bees were plenty, but the flowers 

 were gone. The asters and other fall 

 flowers were cut short. 



Result 



No swarms! 



No surplus honey! 



Bees starving for winter. 



Poor season for bees! 



Rational Beekeeping 



As soon as my colonies were taken 

 out of winter quarters, I gave them 

 plenty of rye flour and opened the 

 hives frequently in order to equalize 

 all the colonies. 



In April all my hives were filled 

 with worker-brood. I raised very 

 few drones, as I allow scarcely any 

 drone-cells to remain in my hives. 



In April the honey preserved in 

 the hives by indoor wintering was 

 consumed in brood-rearing. I gave 

 to all my colonies, every two or three 

 days in bad weather, several table- 

 spoonfuls of syrup to maintain the 

 laying queen. On the 10th of June 

 the bees had no new honey in their 

 hives. I had to feed syrup to all the 

 newly-made swarms to keep them 

 from starving. 



From the 10th of June the remain- 

 ing white clover gave plenty of 

 honey; but for 10 days it was so thin 

 that it seemed like slightly sweet- 

 ened water. This continued till the 

 Sth of July, my hives overflowing 

 with bees. 



On the first days of July all the 

 cells unoccupied with brood were 

 filled with honey. I extracted 2 or 3 

 frames (11x18 inches) f.om each hive. 

 Very little honey in surplus boxes. 



As soon as the linden blossoms 

 were done I opened my hives fre- 

 quently to remove combs for my 

 swarms, as I had taken 3 swarms 

 from each 2 colonies. I fed them till 

 July 29. 



On the 10th of August the bees 

 were at work on the summer flowers 

 and later on the buckwheat; and, 

 filling their hives, stopped breeding. 

 By the 1st of September some of my 

 hives were so filled with honey that 

 the queens had no room to lay. I 

 extracted 2 or 3 full combs from each 

 hive. In 3 days they were filled 

 again. 



On September 16 the frost killed 

 the flowers, but my hives being too 

 full of honey, I exchanged full combs 

 for empty ones from my small 

 swarms, equalizing them for winter. 

 Result 



One and a half swarms and 60 

 pounds of surplus from each hive. 



Good season for bees! 



Moral 



Honey is more abundant than good beekeepers, 



