THR BEE-KERPERS' REVIEW. 



171 



It had never r)cciirc(l to me than any one 

 wouhl lake this view of tlie matter. lie 

 tliis as it may, it is not the view that I 

 7i'/s/i taken. I re.t;ar(l these men as 

 .<^/><v7(?/ corresjiondents: hnt I do not for 

 this reason endorse their views any- 

 more thill I do tliose of i.ther correspon- 

 dents. 



I have more than once asked Mr. Tay- 

 k>r to criticise the Review as freely as 

 he does any of the journals. If he 

 doesn't do this, the reason must be look- 

 ed for outside of any desire or instruc- 

 tion on my part; as I have always court- 

 ed criticism for myself and the Review. 



I think that Mr. Taylor tries, to the 

 best of his ability, to be l)oth correct and 

 fair. — Ko.] 



S\V.\KMI\r. - TI.ME. 



Natural and .Ardficial Swanniiig I'revcntion 

 of Increase; Etc. 



C. DAVENPORT. 



^ LTHOUGH for many years I allowed 

 -fi natural swarminj^, even v.ith a large 

 number of colonies, of late years I have 

 largely practiced artifical swarming; and 

 perhaps I can say a few things in regard to 

 it that will be of interest to some who have 

 not had much experience. I think that be- 

 ginners will, as a rule, meet with better 

 success by allowing natural SA'arming; 

 taking measures to prevent it only in the 

 way of shade, ventilation and plenty of 

 surplus room, .\lthough much study and 

 thought liave been given the matter, and 

 many and various have been the devices 

 made to prevent swarming, nothing really 

 practical in this line has yet been devised; 

 and, in my own opinion, never will be by 

 the use oi zinc in any form at the entrance. 

 In the production of comb honey the on- 

 ly sure method of preventing swarming, 

 that I know of, aside from dividing aufl 

 rtific.al swarming, is that of caging the 



(lueen; but, unfortunately, this method 

 involves a good deal of work in the way 

 of cutting out queen cells, and in finding 

 queens at a time when the colonies are 

 very strong and the weather hot. The 

 queens can be found without so very much 

 work by running the bees througTi zinc at 

 the entrance. This method of finding 

 queens works well during the fore part of 

 the season, or at any time when the weath- 

 er is not too warm. In very warm weath- 

 er bees will not in many cases readily 

 pass through zinc at the entrance. If the 

 bee.s, including the queen, are all shaken 

 from the combs, in front of the hive, large 

 masses of them will sometimes cluster in 

 front of, or under, the hive; and in some 

 instances the}- will remain there for days. 

 Aside from this, it is yet an open question 

 whether as much honey can be secured in 

 thus preventing swarming by the caged 

 queen plan. 



There are, however, undoubtedh-. a 

 great many who have but a small number 

 of colonies, and whose occupations are 

 such that they cannot be on hand to watch 

 for and hive natural swarms, and a small 

 number of colonies does not admit, for 

 financial reasons, of the hiring of any one 

 for this work, and, although there are 

 man}' methods that may be employed in 

 such cases to pi event the loss of swarms, 

 artificiai swarming, or else dividing, will, 

 as a rule, give as good or better results 

 than au}- other, even in the hands of a 

 novice. 



Whether allowing natural swarming, 

 or practicing artificial swarming, the best 

 method to pursue depends, of course, up- 

 on the locality; that is, upon the time and 

 length of its honey flow, or flows. Here, 

 with our short season, and only one flow- 

 that is usually worthy of being considered 

 as regular surplus, one of the main things 

 nece.ssary for the best success, in either 

 case, is to keep, as near as pos.sible, the 

 whole force of the colony together. If 

 this is done, it means, here, at least a 

 third more surplus than when the work- 

 ing force is allowed to divide up. One of 

 the most practical methods of keeping the 



