THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



3T3 



starters. I thought to let them work 

 as long as they would without swarm- 

 ing; but when they commenced 

 swarming, make the change. Well, 

 either two or three swarms issued 

 from about 125 colonies. That ended 

 swarming, but I did change the most 

 of them to starters. 



Usually I have managed most of my 

 stock on movable combs to have fair 

 control of swarming without making a 

 complete change, but I am constantly 

 getting bees in boxes, or in regular 

 hives wita crooked combs, and worse 

 off than if in plain boxes; and these 

 it has been my custom to drive and 

 hive as swarms, often putting two or 

 three of these forced swavms into one 

 when they were small, and thus it 

 comes that I have had quite a little 

 experience along these lines; yet I can 

 not say I have made the practice a 

 regular system. 



The question has often been raised 

 as to whether these forced swarms 

 work with the same vigor as do natur- 

 al ones— a question that is perfectly 

 proper. My reply is, that forced 

 swarms made without intelligence, 

 and in a haphazard way, will not work 

 with the same vigor as the natural 

 swarm, yet may be made to come very 

 close to it. Much depends on condi- 

 tions. A swarm made just at the be- 

 ginning of a honey-flow, when every 

 bee is fresh and full of vim, will, when 

 they get to the fields and find nectar, 

 get down to business; and, once start- 

 ed, will put in their best licks. The 

 natural swarm has gone out of its own 

 accord, and clustered, and the hiving 

 does not bring about any unnatural 

 condition, and they proceed to work. 

 Make a forced swarm from a colony 

 in prime or good condition; and, if 

 hived comfortably and in a suitable 

 place to work, there is vsry little dif- 

 ference from the natural way. Every 

 natural swarm loses time when it 

 swarms, so does the forced one. 



Admit that the force method will 

 not be attended with quite the same 

 vigor, which is true, yet this fact re- 

 mains: That the master controls the 

 situation, and brings his business to 

 a system that can not be attained 

 where swarming is allowed. It en- 

 ables the apiarist to plan his work and 

 work to the plan, and he can care for 

 so much more stock that he will have 

 much more profit in the end. "We 

 may just as well advocate letting our 

 domestic stock of all kinds follow na- 

 ture as to say the bee shall. Swarm- 

 ing season with me lasts about two or 

 three weeks; and if I have five yards, 

 that means about ten weeks I must 

 have helpers to watch for swarms. I 

 leave each apiarist to say what that 

 labor will cost; and when it is done 

 they won't have any more honey than 

 can be had when the apiarist puts his 

 bees into proper shape to accomplish 

 what he wants when the time is right 

 to get the desired results. 



It is not nature to take brood or 

 bees (bees usually give best results! 

 to a very weak colony in the spring 

 to help them get started, when for any 

 reason the colony is too weak to make 

 a start for itself; nor it is nature to 

 give weak colonies brood later on to 

 help to a profitable degree of popula- 

 tion, yet these things are practiced 

 with profit. I recall an instance where 

 a man had in the spring 300 colonies 

 when the honey season came, but they 

 Avere not up to his standard of 

 strength to get good results in honey, 

 so he went through the whole lot and 

 made 200 working colonies out of tho 

 .'iOO. putting the brood and most of 

 the bees from each third colony into 

 its two neighbors, and taking the third 

 one to a new stand. The result was 

 a fair crop of surplus where others 

 all about failed. We must have bees 

 and in the proper numbers and con- 

 ditions at the right time if we are to 

 obtain results; and if the bees do not 



