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VOL. II, 



FLffl, MICHIGAN, MiY 10, 18[9. 



NO. 5. 



Controlling Increase. 



JAS. HEDDON. 



fT CA N be done, but can it be done in a 

 practical, profitaljle manner? We say 

 no. Not in the present state of the 

 science and art of l)ee keeping. 



To the man wlio has a large numbe* of 

 colonies, and wishes to no into our business 

 on an extensive and profitable scale, this is 

 one of the most important of all apicultural 

 prol)lems. It would be of immense advan- 

 tage if we could find a practical system of 

 preventing increase, so that, after we had 

 fixed things, neither increase nor a desire for 

 increase (which if forcibly checked creates 

 sluggishness on the part of the colony) would 

 ever take place. Such a method as this, is 

 what we are looking for. But we are not 

 looking for, nor need we be at all anxious 

 for. a method which merely tends to decrease 

 swarming, not even if it does away with nine- 

 tenths of it. We cannot afford to lose the 

 other tenth. When we can i)revent it all, 

 and that too, without disgruntling the bees, 

 we can adopt an entirely new apiary sy.stem 

 of honey production. 



Now, Mr. Editor, we have come to another 

 place where we will have to agree to disagree. 

 I am going to pitch right into you. You say 

 that l)y using large hives and raising extract- 

 ed honey, swarming can be practically pre- 

 vented. I say no; not in this locality, which 

 I believe is a fair sample of hundreds of 

 others in the same latitude. It is not prac- 

 tically prevented so long as a swarm is issu- 

 intr now and then. 



Next, you take up the Heddon method of 

 preventing after-swarms, and then you find 

 fault with that. You say that it does not 

 always work because the new queens some- 

 times hatch before the eighth day. If I 

 remember right, I did not say eight days, 

 but six days, and in my experience I have 

 never known bees enough to hatch out be- 

 tween this d-.xy and the time the young queens 

 hatched, to cause any second swarming. 



Next you mention Friend Manum's method 

 of clipping out, on the fourth day, all the 

 queen cells except one, and say it is too much 

 labor. That is not the worst of it. Many 

 times that one cell hatches no queen at all; 

 at other times, a worthless one. 



The "Simmins non-swarming system," is 

 merely a rehash of the old Gallup & Adair 

 long-idea hive. You need not give it any 



trial, for it has been tried and discarded by 

 hundreds of bee-keepers years ago. The 

 principle is correct, but the practical use of 

 it is too cumbersome and damaging to be 

 tolerated. 



The replacing of old queens by new ones 

 works very well but not absolutely. It is too 

 much work for the practical honey producer 

 who expects to raise his honey at an expense 

 less than its market price. But we do not 

 want a system which nearly prevents swarm- 

 ing. W^e want an absolute system. A partial 

 system will soon become so partial that you 

 will lose too large a force from your apiary 

 if not watched; and it is to get rid of watch- 

 ing the apiary that we most desire the non- 

 swarming system. 



As to preventing increase when swarming 

 is allowed, the best way to do that is to hive 

 the swarm on the old stand, placing all the 

 surplus boxes on the swarm. Place the old 

 colony near the new one. After a few days, 

 turn the mputh of it the other way and throw 

 a carpet over it in such a manner as to catch 

 in the new hive the out and out-going bees. 

 After one day, move the carpet and allow the 

 bees to fly: then in a few days move the hive 

 to an entirely new position, catching more 

 of the bees in the new hive. The next morn- 

 ing bring it back to the new hive again, and 

 so work it till the bees are all in the new hive. 

 Then you can do what you please with the 

 combs in the old hive. With queen exclud- 

 ing honey-board, the hive may be piled on 

 top of the other, something my students 

 have done many times, and the new queens 

 hatched out may be allowed to fly out at the 

 top. 



Our method, in running three large 

 apairies, is to keep a good man in each one, 

 discourage swarming, when increase is not 

 desired, (which is nearly all the time with 

 us) by plenty of surplus room, shade, etc. 

 Then what swarms do issue, hive them and 

 make the most of them, and that means a 

 good deal. It means enough to make two 

 more good long articles, to describe the 

 7nodiis oi^erandi. 



DowAGiAC, Mich. April 22, 1889. 



Bro. H., if a man owns a large apairy, and 

 prefers surplus to increase, he lyractically 

 prevents swarming, if, by some simple, in- 

 expensive management, only one colony in 

 ten swarms. In other words, if his object is 

 to augment his surplus at the expense of in- 



