THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



309 



the home-apian', in which there is 

 usually some one present to hive the 

 swarms when they issue, there has not 

 been so much call for thus artificially 

 causing some of the colonies to swarm. 

 The development of the out-apiary has 

 had something to do with the bringing to 

 the front of this method of solving the 

 swarming problem. An added impetus, 

 in fact, what really brought it to the sur- 

 face this year, was the wide-spread publi- 

 cation of how this method is employed in 

 Colorado for circumventing foul brood. 

 Whole apiaries were "shook" at the open- 

 ing of the honey harvest, and thus freed 

 from the disease, until the harvest was 

 over, even though in a badly infected dis- 

 trict. It was thought by some that while 

 this plan might be all right for Colorado 

 with her long season, it would not answer 

 for the East. The discussion that has 

 followed has brought out the fact that 

 quite a number in the R^st have been 

 practicing it, and saying nothing of it, as 

 "they supposed everybody else knew 

 about it and practiced it " Gleanings for 

 October has several most valunble articles 

 on the subject. Of course, it is out of the 

 season new to practice this plan, but now 

 is the time to consider it, and make ar- 

 rangements for using it another year when 

 the proper time conies. I am copying 

 from Gle.^nings some of these articles. 

 The first one is by that m^st practical 

 thinker and worker, Mr. F. Greiner, Nap- 

 les, N. Y. Mr. Greiner says: — 



It seems that before a certain thing is 

 thoroughly understood and fully appre- 

 ciated by the many, it has to be brought 

 up again and again, in the press and every- 

 where, talked about in the convention, 

 harpefl on in private conversation, etc. 

 That seems to be the way because one 

 person can seldom so present a thing at 

 one time that everybody will see it in the 

 right light. Therefore we l^ep on 

 talking about lots of other things as well 

 as "brushed swarms." 



Wnen Gravenhorst first I to our knowl- 

 edge I made known this method of treat- 

 ing strong colonies, perhaps only a few 

 realized the value and the importance of 

 it. It found few followers. G. M. Doo- 

 little hit on the same thing, probably 



without any knowledge of *vhat the for- 

 mer had written. This must have been in 

 1S77 or \S; at least, it appeared in print 

 about that time, and I practiced it accord- 

 ing to his instructions in a limited way 

 for a few years, but without seeing the 

 possibilities the method aflForded. Some 

 years later the keeping of out-apiaries 

 made it desirable to manage our bees in 

 such a way as to prevent their swarming, 

 to keep them at work rather than let them 

 go to the — ivoods. This was the time 

 when we came back to the Gravenhorst 

 or Doolittle practice. 



One reason, perhaps, why the method 

 of brushing swarms did not come into 

 more universal use sooner was because it 

 has some drawbacks as well as disadvan- 

 tages. These drawbacks have not been 

 kept from the public. Stachelhausen and 

 others have attempted to show them up. 

 Let us consider them again. 



A brushed swarm is not always a suc- 

 cess. About 20 per cent, turn out to be 

 failures. Why? Because of absconding. 

 Robbing a colony of all its possessions has 

 a tendency to produce a discontented con- 

 dition among the bees. I have not yet 

 found out to mv satisfaction just how this 

 brushing should be done to prevent such 

 a state of affairs, for the majority of 

 swarms go right on and do their level 

 best after the operation. Onh- the few 

 seem bound to seek other quarters. En- 

 trance-guards do not every time prevent 

 absconding. I have recorded several 

 cases of absconding when tlie guard had 

 been applied. In one case the queen was 

 left with just a handful of bees. In an- 

 other the queen and all were g )ue Still 

 I do make a practice of applying the en- 

 trance-guard after the bees (and in partic- 

 ular the queen ) have gone in. 



In one instance last summer I removed 

 the guard on my next visit three days af- 

 ter after applying it. The swarm left me 

 even then. I now keep the entrance- 

 guard on for a week after brushing. 



.\ comb of open brood is very apt to 

 hold the bees, but does not every time. 

 The rule is a good one, but there are ex- 

 ceptions. 



A brushed swarm is also apt to build a 

 lot of drone comb. Natural swarms, 

 on an average, build far less of it. The 

 age of the queen has a good deal to do 

 with this matter. If every brushed swarm 

 had a young queen there would not be 

 much trouble as to building drone comb. 

 Unfortunately the average honey. produc- 

 er has not things so well regulated but 

 that a portion of his colonies are headed 

 by old mothers. The colonies, if brushed, 

 will build the undesirable comb. 



