Sf4 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



antneas, and vrho can come before the 

 Board unhampered by old troubles 

 and prejudices. As the result of thia 

 trouble the whole year has been prac- 

 tically wasted. Let us take no chances 

 in wasting another year. 



Mr. Abbott finds fault because the 

 Directors and officers go ahead and 

 dc things— because they manage the 

 affairs of the Association. He calls 

 then the "push." Isn't that what they 



are for? Suppose that the officers 

 should settle back in the harness, and 

 just "let things slide." What kind of 

 an Association would we haveV So 

 long as I am an officer in the Asso- 

 ciation I shall say my say, freely and 

 conscientiously, and if this course re- 

 sults in the membership putting some 

 other man in my place, I shall simply 

 say: "Thank you gentlemen for re- 

 lieving me of this responsibility." 



SHOOK SWARMIXG. 



Some Experiences and Suggestions of a 

 Veteran. 



It is impossible for the Review to 

 copy all of the good things that are 

 said of forced or shook swarms, but 

 it can give some of the best articles, 

 and the following from Gleanings, 

 written by that thorough-going veter- 

 an, R. C. Aikin, is certainly one of 

 the best that has yet appeared. Mr. 

 Aikin says: 



I have been reading all I find on the 

 subject of forced swarms, and now 

 will give my opinion. However, let 

 me first say in regard to the name, 

 why say shook or brushed or jounced, 

 or anything but simply forced? It mat- 

 ters not by what method the bees are 

 gotten from the parent hive. Besides 

 the above methods, they may be and 

 often are driven, but always are a 

 forced swarm. 



That forced swarming Is practical 1 

 fully believe, and this will not be the 

 first and only time I have put myself 

 on record as favoring such practice, 

 though I do not take time to hunt up 

 the times and places I have advocated 

 this doctrine. During all my apicul- 



tural life I have practiced trying to 

 prevent swarming; and if over 25 

 years of effort in that line will not give 

 a man some ideas on the subject he 

 must be dull indeed. 



I will confess that forced swarming 

 has not been practiced by me as a set 

 rule or method; but that I have made 

 very many such swarms, no one can 

 dispute. I suppose there has scarcely 

 been a year for the past 25 when 1 

 have not made some forced swarms- 

 some years very few, and others quite 

 a good many. My aim has always 

 been to have very strong colonies for 

 surplus work, and such practice gets 

 the colonies into such a condition that 

 they want to swarm. To prevent 

 swarming I have resorted to some 

 pretty radical measures, such as tak- 

 ing away brood and leaving dry or 

 broodless combs; shaking the bees 

 from strong colonies into weak ones; 

 unqueoning and other plans and some- 

 times hiving on starters. I say I have 

 never had a set rule to make forced 

 swarms, for there are rarely any two 

 years alike, and sometimes swarming 

 can be controlled with but little trou- 

 ble by some simple procedure. This 

 year I had planned to make forced 

 swarms of a hundred or more colonies 

 by taking away all tlioir brood and 

 honey, taking all combs and giving 



