226 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



and No. ;? cast a swarm on the 30th, indica- 

 ting tliat when other conditions are favorable 

 very little if any preparation at all in the way 

 of queen cells is required before the bees feel 

 at liberty to swarm. 



One hive of No. 2 lost its queen which was 

 replaced by a tine young queen which had 

 been laying but a few days, yet this young 

 queen came out with a swarm within four 

 days, and within a week was lost, apparently 

 destroyed by the bees. 



As might have been expected under such 

 circumstances the bees of these colonies did 

 not do very good work, but those that did the 

 most swarming did fully as well as the 

 others. As I estimate it, these bees yielded 

 about G.'i to 75 per cent, of the surplus they 

 would have yielded had they been managed 

 in the ordinary -way. What especially sur- 

 prised me was the remarkable slowness 

 shown by these strong colonies in capping 

 their surplus honey. 



It was always very evident that the desire 

 to swarm was thoroughly eradicated from 

 the colony from which the bees had been 

 thrown — this was frequently very soon shown 

 by the casting out of immature drones. I 

 could not see that worker brood suffered 

 materially. 



Why was it that the inclination to swarm 

 was not also removed for a time from the 

 working force of the two colonies thrown to- 

 gether into a hive in which there was no be- 

 ginning of preparations for swarming? 



I have hereinbefore remarked that it 

 appears that the larger the hive the longer 

 the bees are able to resist the inclination to 

 swarm. But the size of a hive is a relative 

 matter and the largest one becomes small if 

 too many colonies are united and put into it. 

 The theory of the Langdon attachment is 

 that the prevention of the completion of the 

 usual course of preparation for swarming 

 common in normal cases will prevent 

 swarming in all cases. The mere statement 

 reveals the fault in the reasoning. The 

 attachment answers completely to the theory 

 but the theory is wrong. It is not an in- 

 frequent occurrence that swarms issue with- 

 out leaving a sign that there had been a 

 thought of preparation, and this is only on the 

 line between the normal and the abnormal. 

 If several swarms are out at once and unite 

 and are hived after an unequal division the 

 colony having an unduly large proportion of 

 the bees will generally persist in the desire to 

 swarm. That condition is abnormal and 



creates dissatisfaction. To unite the work- 

 ing force of two strong colonies when the 

 swarming fever is in the air is highly ab- 

 normal, and if this is done, this abnormal 

 condition must be provided against if swarm- 

 ing is to be prevented. At least the result of 

 the experiments thus far seems to point that 

 way. 



If a course of operations creates abnormal 

 conditions it should be required to make 

 efficient provision to cope with those condi- 

 tions. 

 Lapeeb, Mich., .July 27, 1893. 



TIlilH!rj"y TOFIOS. 

 No. 7. 



E. L. TATLOB. 



j^ LL cases of sections containing the 

 product of white clover and basswood 

 were safely housed some time ago and 

 these of course contained most of the sections 

 which had been adjusted to the hives but un- 

 doubtedly there were some cases in which lit- 

 tle or no honey was stored and there is a temp- 

 tation to allow them to remain in the hope 

 that they may be filled in September, but it 

 is a mistake to do so. The bees have now a 

 month's vacation and they use it in making 

 the best preparation they may for the ap- 

 proaching bleak half of the year. Every 

 thing must be made snug — as wind and 

 water-proof as wax and gum can make it. 

 It is interesting to observe at this season the 

 little masons on the outside of the hive with 

 their pollen baskets filled with propolis as- 

 sisting those within to efifectually close some 

 ciack that is calculated later in the year to 

 minister to their discomfort. Wax they find 

 makes fairly good mortar and finding it 

 ready at hand hanging useless in the sections 

 they do not scruple to cut it out to eke out 

 their more laboriously gathered propolis. 

 Then, apparently for the purpose of pre- 

 venting moisture from finding a lodgement 

 even in the woodwork of their home, they 

 varnish the whole with their wonderful, 

 spicy gums while the mid summer sun 

 makes them spread and adhere well. Of 

 course the new white sections invite the first 

 and fullest attention so that by the advent 

 of the equinoxes they could no longer be 

 recognized as the same. Their value has 

 departed and if in the mean time they are 



