176 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ject is to have only combs filled with 

 brood in the brood chamber when the 

 honey Jiozi' comme;ices, so that the first 

 honey shall go into the sections, and after 

 the bees are once started in the sections 

 they will continne to work there, no mat- 

 ter how much the brood-chamber may be 

 enlarged afterwards, wht-n working con- 

 sistently for section honey. But once al- 

 low the l)?es not to work in the sections, 

 by allowing nmch empty comb in the 

 brood-chamber, and all the contraction 

 that may be practiced afterwards will not 

 secure to the " practicer " success along 

 the line of section honey. 



Not being a comb honey producer, I 

 have read with but small interest what 

 has been said in the bee journals about 

 contraction for comb honey production, 

 and when I saw what Bro. D. says as 

 abjve, I wondered that not one of all the 

 contractor advocates had advocated this 

 method of contraction; contracting by 

 filling the brood chamber with brood, thus 

 obliging the bees to put any surplus in 

 the sections and also keeping up the sup- 

 ply of workers. Last season I thought 

 I would try and produce a few sections of 

 honey, just for fun, then I thought of 

 what had been said by so many about con- 

 traction, and I came pretty near giving up 

 the experiment after I had secured the 

 necessary supplies; but, in thinking the 

 matter over, it occured to me why not have 

 the brood chamber so filled with brood 

 that there would be no room for surplus 

 below, or in the brood chamber, and the 

 bees would be obliged to put all surplus 

 above. I thought the matter over until I 

 felt sure I was right, and when I'm sure 

 Pvi right I like very much to have my 

 own way, but I had read so much about 

 contraction, and how difficult it often was 

 to get work commenced in the sections, 

 that I thought I'd try and fool the little 

 stubborn rascals and beat them at their 

 little game; so I selected three strong col- 

 onies, and removed all the brood combs 

 that were not well filled with brood, and, 

 with some sealed honey in the upper cor- 

 ners, and supplied their places with combs 

 of brood from other colonies, either all, 

 or nearly all, sealed over. I was really 



surprised to see how quickly the stubborn 

 little misses went to work in the sections. 

 I thought they acted as though they were 

 glad thi.t I had given them a place to put 

 the nectar they were bringing in, withoul 

 cutting off the supply for the (lueen to 

 use. Mr. Aikin further siys: 



The c{uicker you cm get the colony 

 into the super after the flow begins, the 

 less the swarming and the more the sur- 

 plus. An early start in the super lessens 

 the crowding of the brood combs with 

 honey, and as naturally follows, the more 

 room for the queen to lav. And the lar- 

 ger the force at work in the super the less 

 pressure in the brood chaml)er. So true 

 is this in reducing the swarming tenden- 

 cy, that if we could just get every colony 

 at work at once, in the supers 7cith tlie 

 very beginning of the flow ^ I verily believe 

 it would reduce swarming at least one-half. 

 No idlers and plenty of elbow room. 

 The center of activity is transfered from 

 the brood chamber to the supe- and the 

 center of activity being in the supers, the 

 brood combs are not filled so plump, and 

 honey will even be moved out of the 

 brood combs to the super to make room 

 for a vigorous queen. Why, friends, I 

 have seen in just such a condition, a 

 colony pile their honey into the super 

 until the brood combs were left too light 

 for winter. 



To one who hasn't given the subject of 

 section honey production much thought 

 there seems to be a good deal in a little 

 in what Mr. Aikin says. It looks like 

 good, sound common sense. The "center 

 of activity " b^dng taken from the brood- 

 nest it seems the mgst natural thing that 

 the impulse to swarm would be reduced 

 if not entirely prevented. It is conceded 

 that, under normal conditions, all that 

 is required to prevent swarming is that 

 the bees- have "plenty of elbow room," 

 and that is just wliat pushing them into 

 the supers gives them; and they seem to 

 want more help to fill them; so they 

 want more room in which to raise that 

 help, and they give the queen all the 

 room they can, and when the bee-keeper 

 takes away the surplus they are left 

 without a surpply of winter stores. 



I see this condition every year in pro- 

 ducing extracted honey, if I give surplus 



