THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



203 



year, so as to uarrow down my business in 

 harmony with my advancing years, bnt the 

 success of controlling swarms with tlie swarm 

 catchers, opened new possibilities and 1 at 

 once resolved to increase my colonies and 

 establish one or more additional out apiaries, 

 as I can now employ a boy of 10 or Vl years 

 to catch the swarms, so I proceeded as fol- 

 lows: 



When a swarm issued 1 caught it and set 

 it in the cellar. 1 then went to the hive from 

 which it issued and removed the supers. 

 Then I set the top section of the hive on a 

 new bottom board and removed it to a new 

 stand. The sections were then returned to 

 the under half of the old hive, with an empty 

 super under them if more room was neces- 

 sary. A young, just hatched, queen was now 

 liberated in this hive, or sometimes a queen 

 cell just ready to hatch was used. The 

 reason for giving a young queen here is that 

 the swarn is liable to swarm out again, on 

 account of the small quarters to which they 

 are returned, but with a virgin queen this 

 trouble is avoided. Sometimes I returned 

 the bees in two or three hours if they became 

 sufficiently quiet. At other times they were 

 left :5fi hours. When ready to return, a sheet 

 is spread in front of the prepared hive, the 

 bees brought from the cellar, and, as they 

 have clustered on the movable end of the 

 catcher, they are lifted out and shaken on 

 the sheet well away from the hive. The 

 cool cellar liaving allayed the excitement, 

 they can be spread out on the sheet and kept 

 there for two hours, if necessary, in order to 

 find the old queen. When found she is re- 

 turned to that section of the old hive that 

 was removed to a new stand, and all swarm- 

 ing is now over with tliis colony, and it is 

 built up into a first-class colony for winter- 

 ing. Sometimes it makes ^*) or more pounds 

 of surplus honey. 



The colony on the old stand with the new 

 queen will not swarm again tliis year and may 

 make large (juantities of honey if any is in 

 the fields, and will be a lirst class colony for 

 the next year. This doubles the number of 

 colonies which is the largest increase I ever 

 practice. 



If you wish to make artificial colonies, 

 hunt up the queen, divide the hive as above, 

 placing one section on a new stand, return 

 the old (jueen to it after waiting 2 or :'• hours 

 to allow all the old bees to return to the old 

 stand, which they will not all do if the old 

 queen is returned immediately on removal. 



The virgin queen is given to that part left on 

 the old stand which gets all the old work- 

 ing bees and one-half the brood. The sec- 

 tions are placed ui)on it just as in the first 

 case and it will make a booming colony for 

 any purpose. 



If I wanted still larger increase I would 

 hive the new swarm in an empty hive on the 

 old stand, remove the sections to it, divide 

 tlie two sections of the old hive, place them 

 on separate stands, cut out all queen cells 

 and give each a just hatched (jueen or ma- 

 ture queen cell. Each will make a first class 

 colony and this makes all the increase any- 

 one should want. 



You will notice Friend Hutchinson that in 

 all these ways of making increase I do noth- 

 ing to interfere with securing a first class 

 crop of honey the present year and the work 

 is short enough to handle 25 swarms a day 

 without trouble. 



I wrote you on July 4th of having caught 

 (if) swarms since the first day of this month. 

 The next day, July .'ith, "l^y swarms issued in 

 three hours and we caught and hived them 

 all without trouble and without two swarms 

 getting together. Without the catchers it 

 would have been impossible to have done any- 

 thing with them. I never saw such a rush 

 of bees in all my experience, and I am safe 

 in saying that the catchers were worth fifty 

 dollars to me on that one day. We have 

 now caught over 100 swarms, since July 1st, 

 without a single failure, and have done it all 

 with an ease hitherto unknown. 



I am now preparing to greatly increase my 

 colonies and start further out-apiaries as it 

 is now possible to catch and hive the 

 swarms with cheap labor. I pronounce the 

 catchers perfect and invite anyone interested 

 to come and see for themselves. 



FoKESTViLLE, Miuu., July 14th, 1891. 



A Successful House Apiary. How the Bees 



are Hived by the Use of a Catcher 



and Feed Board. 



J. A. GOLDEN. 



IRIEND Hutchinson, I see by your last 

 J(^ leader that the August Review is to be 

 devoted to house apiaries. I sliall l)e 

 very glad to read tliat number, from the 

 fact that much has been said in abuse of my 

 ideal of bee-keeping, or the house apiary. 

 Your leader suggests far more to be con- 

 sidered than this article should contain. 



