THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



379 



with full depth cells, cannot be used for 

 raising comb honey as they are twice as 

 heavy as natural comb, but they are ex- 

 cellent, strong- combs for use in extract- 

 ing.) 



The third point is that the bees swarm 

 at the right time that the mother colony 

 has a fertile queen and the young colony 

 has its brood combs completed before the 

 main harvest comes. Colonies that make 

 preparations for swarming at the height 

 of the harvest, or towards its close, miss 

 the best opportunity for honey gathering. 

 A swarm, that comes late can but build 

 its combs and secure a store of honey for 

 winter, while the parent colony will not 

 become sufficiently populous until the 

 harvest is past and gone. At the end of 

 the season the bee-keeper will stand be- 

 fore his colonies and complain of the 

 average season, or. perhaps, the poor sea- 

 son. The only strange thing about it is 

 that colonies "X" and "Z" have done all 

 that could be wished. At least, they have 

 gathered twice as much as the others. 

 By close searching after the causes of 

 these things the bee-keeper will find that 

 in nine cases out of ten. the colonies that 

 are starving in the spring swarmed at 

 the wrong time, while "X" and "Z" 

 swarmed at the right time. If swarming 

 at the wrong time is the cause of a small 

 crop, then the bee-keeper will not doubt a 

 moment as to what he ought to do. The 

 only point is how it shall be done. Of 

 course, we want early swarms, not simply 

 individual swarms, but we want the 

 whole apiary to swarm early. To ac- 

 complish this, that is, have the whole 

 apiary swarm early and within a period 

 of a week or ten days, those colonies that 

 are in the rear must be helped at the ex- 

 pense of those that are too far advanced. 

 This is done by the exchange of combs. 

 From the time the bees are wintered until 

 the opening of the main harvest. I work 

 with this end in view, that of having 

 them all enter the field equally strong. 



During this preparatory period, many of 

 them build combs. Of course, if colonies 

 are too far in the rear it may be best to 

 leave them to themselves or unite them. 

 There are other means than exchanging 

 combs for equalizing colonies but they 

 must be practiced with great caution. If 

 some of the colonies do not swarm when 

 it seems they ought to, they can be divided. 

 An artificial swarm that is made like a 

 natural swarm and at the right time, will 

 work with the same energy as a natural 

 swarm, and in soma conditions is to be 

 preferred. To get early swarms, the bees 

 must have protection and an abundance 

 of stores. In the province of Hanover, 

 where bee-keeping has been made a 

 specialty for a few hundred years, stimu- 

 lative feeding is practiced, and it is only 

 by this plan that an early and sho:t 

 swarming season can be secured. 1 use 

 a swarm catcher and would not think of 

 doing without one. 



To remove the trouble from over-popu- 

 lousness we have only to have a hive that 

 is large enough, or that can be made 

 large enough, and see that it is enlarged 

 before it really becomes too populous. If 

 we have a hive that cannot be enlarged, 

 then we must remove some of the sealed 

 brood and give it to some colony that is 

 not so populous. Managed in this way, 

 the whole apiary will be in the best con- 

 dition to take advantage of the honey 

 flow when it comes, instead of having in 

 it a few giants surrounded by dwarfs. 



Lastly, IS the point of having too much 

 unsealed brood in proportion to the num- 

 ber of workers. To remedy this some of 

 the unsealed brood is taken away and 

 given to some colony having more bees in 

 proportion to its unsealed brood. Empty 

 combs are given in place of the brood re- 

 mioved. The empty combs are placed at 

 the side of the brood nest. If there is 

 danger of weakening the colony too much, 

 capped brood may be given in place of 

 the unsealed that is removed. 



GENERAL INDEX, VOLUME XX 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



Accident, edmost an 311 



American Bee Journal changed to a 25-ct. 



monthly 214 



American Bee-Keeper abuses the National 



Asso 242 



Apicultural investigators 178 



Apiarist suspends, the 52 



Articles wanted by the committee on advertis- 

 ing honey 87 



Bee-Proof bee dress 167 



