1i 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



crease, then it is a success. If his object in 

 preveuting increase is, chiefly, that the 

 apairy may be left alone except at intervals, 

 then, I agree with you, that no method can 

 be called a perfect success that does not 

 entirely prevent swarming. 



It is true that, in your instructions for pre- 

 venting after-swarms, you say remove the 

 old hive to a new location on the fifth or 

 sixth day; and when removed thus early, 

 there is no danger of a swarm issuing before 

 the hive is moved; but it was to lessen the 

 probabilities of a swarm issuing at about the 

 eleventh day, that we have usually moved the 

 hive on the seventh day after swarming. As 

 we said before, this method, as a rule, is 

 successful; but it has failed occasionally 

 with us. 



By all means, Bro. H., give us those two, 

 " good, long articles, " describing your 

 method of making the most out of swarms. 



Preventing Increase by a ten Day's Removal 



of the ftueen at Swarming Time.— 



Some Criticisms. 



O. C. MILLEE. 



|LL GIVE you what I think is about 

 the best plan I ever tried to prevent 

 increase, pi-DriUed the bees are allow- 

 ed to swarm. Have all queens clip- 

 c^. When a swarm issues, cage the queen, 

 and give her to the bees to take care of. 

 Some time within three days, lift out all 

 frames of brood, giving each frame a shake 

 so as to leave about half the bees on each 

 frame, and put these frames of brood in an 

 empty hive which we will call No. 2 ; calling 

 the old hive No. 1. You may fill up No. 2 

 with the number of frames you desire it to 

 have for the. remainder of the season, or you 

 may put in only the frames of brood, the 

 rest of the space to be filled up afterwards. 

 In No. 1 leave one frame containing eggs 

 and brood, and if you wish to raise some ex- 

 cellent queen cells give it eggs or larva^ from 

 a choice queen. Besides the one frame 

 with brood, No. 1 will have two or three 

 combs with no brood, and you may till it up 

 with dummies or put in a division board and 

 a single dummy, leaving part of the hive va- 

 cant. Don't leave in No. 1 one of the frames 

 with queen cells, but if you leave one of the 

 frames that has already been there, be sure 

 it has eggs and young brood, and be sure 

 you destroy all queen cells upon it. Pay no 

 attention to the queen cells in No. 2, but 

 leave them on the combs, although I often 

 enjoy picking otf the sealed ones. Now put 

 back the supers on No. 1, and cover up, and 

 then put No. 2 o)i the top of the supers. Put 

 the queen on top of the frames of No. 2, and 

 let her run down among the bees, cover up, 

 and the work is done for the present. No.2, 

 being weak in bees, and having a fertile 



queen, will make short work of destroying all 

 queen cells,— much surer than you will, for 

 you inat/ miss some obscure ones. 



Ten days after the day of swarming, or as 

 near that as convenient, lift off the the hive 

 and supers, lake away No. 1, put No. 2 in its 

 place and ))ut on the supers. It, at the time 

 of filling No. 2, you took only part of the 

 frames from No. 1, and No. 1 and No. 2 con- 

 tained, between them, all the frames belong- 

 ing to No. 1, then at this tenth day after 

 swarming you can destroy all queen cells on 

 the brood frame in No. 1, and put back all m 

 No. 2. If you desire to start a nucleus to 

 raise a queen, all you have to do is to take 

 No. 2 to a new location, and it is all right. 

 You may ask, what will become of the 

 bees that have marked their location at No. 2 

 while on top of the pile ? Well, when they 

 come back from the field they will feel all 

 lost, and will finally settle in a cluster on the 

 super at the front, and by and by a bee or 

 two will wander down in front till the en- 

 trance to No. 2 is reached, when a call is set 

 up, and the whole cluster will march noi- 

 sily down. 



On page <!(> you speak of the Dadants ob- 

 jecting to the use of the honey-board, and 

 express surprise at it. Please remember, 

 Bro. H., that the Dadants kept bees before 

 you were born as a bee-keeper, and that you 

 probably never used what they call a honey- 

 board. Uheu I first used movable combs, a 

 honey-board was on each hive. It was a sort 

 of cover, with holes through it, on which to 

 place boxes. Afterwards, Bickford gave us 

 the quilt, and the honey-board was thrown 

 aside forever. Still later, Heddon gave us 

 the skeleton honey-board, which is uidispen- 

 sible with me to place between brood cham- 

 ber and super. So I have discarded the 

 honey-board forever and adopted the skele- 

 ton honey-board, to be used, probably, 

 always. 



Replying to a remark of yours sometime 

 ago, about the difference between taking off 

 cloths and honey-boards, I've only time to 

 say that my experience is unlike yours, and 

 that I had rather take off two quilts than one 

 honey-board. 

 Maeengo, III. April 17, 1889. 



W' e have heard and read of the old-fash- 

 ioned honey -boards mentioned by the Dr., 

 but we don't remember having seen one. As 

 the Dr. says, they were discarded long ago. 

 Now-a-days, when the word "honey-board" 

 is used, we understand it to mean a slatted, 

 or skeleton, or perforated metal arrange- 

 ment used between the supers and the brood- 

 nest to prevent the attaching of brace-combs 

 to the bottoms of the sections : and, also, 

 when queen-excluding, to keep the queen out 

 of the supers. This is the kind of honey- 

 board to which we, very naturally, supposed 

 Messrs. Dadant referred : but perhaps the 

 Dr. is correct. There is a passage farther 

 along in the book that would strengthen his 

 position. It reads as follows : " All apiarists, 



