THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



137 



It is quite possible to commence feed- 

 ing too soon in the sprint,^ and then to 

 quit too soon, and thus come up to the 

 honey season lackiu}; in l)rood, but with 

 an abundance of stora<ie room in the 



brood nest, which soon gets the colony 

 in that clogged condition so unfavorable 

 for surplus honey, and so favorable to 

 swarming. 



LoNGMONT, Colo., April 22, 1902. 



EXTRAORDINARY INCREASE 



BY THOS. CHANTRY 



Also a Plan of Getting Queens Fertilized in Small 

 Nuclei with Sections for Gonabs 



He fruitful and multiply, and 



MN page 1 13. in the April Review, you 

 ^ say you will be glad to have reported 

 a little experience along the line of 

 rapid increase. 



Some 15 or 16 years ago, I bought a lot 

 of hives and combs where bees had died 

 during the winter and spring, leaving 

 considerable honey. I wished to fill 

 these hives with bees as fast as I could. 



Raising queens is always a delay, and 

 uncertain, so, as soon as a colony had 

 five well filled frames of brood I took 

 out three of the best sealed ones, bees 

 and all, leaving the queen and remaining 

 two in the old hive on the old stand (the 

 work was done when bees were flying 

 freely) and placed three empty combs in 

 with them placing one empty one between 

 the two frames with brood. (Of course, 

 there was some honey in the combs. ) 



I then closed this hive and took my 

 three frames with broofl and bees, caged 

 a laying queen in with them, placed them 

 in a new hive, and closed the entrance 

 for that day and the next until about sun- 

 down, when I opened a small place at 

 one corner and placed a bunch of grass 

 or leaves up against it, and the old bees 

 would rush out and return to the old 

 stand, while the young ones marked their 

 location. 



.\t noon next day I opened the hive and 

 exposed tlie candy so the bees could release 

 the queen inside of 24 hours; and did not 

 touch them again for a week. 



replenish the earth — bible. 



I did this about the ist of May. About 

 the 25th of May, each colony, both old 

 and new, had five good frames of brood 

 again, and each was divided the same as 

 before, making four colonies. About 

 June 20th, these four colonies were ready 

 again with five frames of brood, each, 

 and were again divided, making eight. 



About July 15th I had these eight to 

 divide. About August loth I divided 

 enough so as to have 25 colonies, putting 

 sections on those I did not divide. 



We had a good fall flow of heartsease 

 and buckwheat, and I got 240 filled sec- 

 tions and had 25 good colonies with 

 plenty of honey for winter, and, I will 

 say, all wintered except one. 



I draw these conclusions: 



If bees are .supplied with all the food 

 they can use, and all the eggs thev can 

 care for, and do not have to build comb, 

 you can double them every 25 days. 



I once used full sheets of foundation 

 and a feeder and did nearly as well. 



I think so well of that plan of dividing 

 that I use it universally, and have never 

 lost a queen so introduced. 



.\DV.\NT.\GES OF SM.VLL FRAMES .A.ND 

 SM.\r.L NUCI,KI. 



You wrote me last fall, Mr. Editor, 

 asking me to describe somewhat my sys- 

 tem of getting queens mated in small 

 sectional nuclei. It is now time wher^ 



