THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



115 



with only one visit a week. He had done 

 it in pnrsuance of some jjjeneral advice I 

 had given him, and now he writes to find 

 oiu wherein he was wronj; in his practice, 

 sugtj^estin^- that an answer in the Review 

 wonld reach him. The i)art of his letter 

 that is material at present is in snbstance 

 as follows: "Season of '97 we had a great 

 white clover honey flow, long continued; 

 and I averaged 100 lbs. of extracted hon- 

 ey a colony, but I lost seven swarms, and 

 three colonies out of twenty-five were 

 queenless in the fall. I visited them 

 every week, returned virgin queen or old 

 one, cleaned traps of drones, at last giv- 

 ing virgin queen a chance to mate. I 

 ilid not like the traps. The hives were 

 in a hickory grove, the weather was hot, 

 and no wind could reach them on three 

 sides. Kvery time I went I found the 

 trap and end of the hive covered with 

 bees, although there were one or two em- 

 pty cases on top. I think some young 

 queens got through the zinc, and so led 

 away swarms. Again, several virgin 

 queens may be caught in the trap and all 

 perish." In the first place, with no 

 chance for the circulation of air, your 

 apiary was in an improper situation for 

 colonies so strong as yours appear to have 

 been. Next, it was a mistake, in so hot 

 a place, and with such a honey-flow, not 

 to have allowed an increase of one swarm 

 from each colony; even if the colonies 

 had to be reunited in the fall or the fol- 

 lowing spring. To have managed the 

 making of such increase, you should, up- 

 on finding a colony that had swarmed, 

 have at once taken from it all brood 

 combs, with sufficient bees to care for the 

 brood, and put them in a new hive, leav- 

 ing the queen and the rest of the bees in 

 the old hive, giving them new frames 

 furnished with foundation or starters. I 

 think you would haveg<Aten more surplus 

 bv that course. There is a limit to the 

 number of bees that can be kept in one 

 hive, sometimes, even if their dissatis- 

 faction does not amount to enough to 

 compel them to swarm. But, if you had 

 to prevent increase, your greatest error 



was that, instead of stamping out the 

 swarming fever at once, you nursed it by 

 returning queens, both old and young 

 ones. When the prime swarm issued, the 

 old queen should have been removed; 

 that would have allayed the fever until 

 the young queens began to emerge, when 

 the proper course to pursue would have 

 been to remove all queen cells, and young 

 queens except one, and then to take off 

 the trap. A few young queens, of which, 

 you would have plent)', kept well fed in 

 cages to be used as needed in supplying 

 colonies would often enable you to re- 

 move cells a little before the queens be- 

 gan to emerge, thus simplifying the mat- 

 ter to some extent. You say you think 

 queens got through zinc, and that you 

 lost some swarms, but you do not say 

 what evidence }^ou have of those facts. 

 As you were present but a small part of 

 the time, I surmise you arrived at your 

 conclusion because you found a colony 

 now and then dapleted of bees. If 

 that is so, niiv it not. be that, instead of 

 going away, your swarms went to a dif- 

 ferent hive ? a very natural thing for them 

 to do under the circumstances. My 

 queens, at least, do not get through the 

 zinc. That several young queens should 

 be found dead in a trap is nothing to be 

 alarmed at. There wo aid yet be one left 

 in the hive. If the last queen should 

 get into the trap she would survive there 

 a long lime — certainly longer that a week. 

 During very hot weather you would pro- 

 bably fintl it an advantage, by way of pre- 

 venting the nees from lying out, to add 

 to the ventilation of the hive by laying 

 three or four small nails, or other equiv- 

 alent, on the top edge of super so as to 

 secure a small opening between it and the 

 cover. Finally, it would be wise to se- 

 cure the mating, in nuclei,, of a few of the 

 numerous young ([ueens you would find, 

 to be u.sed later in re pieening queenless 

 colonies. 



The above is germane to a topic lately 

 discussed to some extent by editor Root 

 and Dr. Miller in Gleanings, 90 and 122, 

 instigated by the plan given by Mr. Getaz 



