e (5)ee- 



\eepeps' |Ae\?ieQ) 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL, IX, 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, AUG, 10. 1896, 



NO, 8. 



Work at IVticliigaia's 



Experimental 



^piarv. 



K. li. TAYLOR, APIARIST. 

 NATURAL VERSU.S ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 



"TT is a pi-etty 

 1 ffenerally re- 

 ceived o J) i n i o n 

 .'unony bee-keep- 

 (Ms, I think, that 

 the operation of 

 natural swarm- 

 inigr gives the bees 

 au impetus that 

 causes them to 

 work more rap- 

 idly, both at hon- 

 ey gathering and 

 comb building, tlian would have been the 

 case had they not gone through that pro- 

 cess. AVhether that opinion is sound or not 

 is a question of much practical interest, be- 

 cause it would often be convenient, and de- 

 sirable, if the net results were not to be 

 thereby diminished, to prevent natural 

 swarming by artificial swarming, through" 

 the use of some method of division. On the 

 face of it there is strong evidence that nat- 

 nral swarming gives the impetus referred 

 to, but tliere is reason to helieve that we may 

 cherish a just suspicion that the swarming 

 is a mere coincidence and that the ap- 



parent evidence is produced by other causes. 

 For instance, it might easily prove to be the 

 fact that the more rapid progress of the 

 work of the hive is caused by the absence of 

 the necessity of making provision for any 

 considerable amount of brood, for a some- 

 what prolonged period of time, as the 

 chronology of the apiary goes. To produce 

 better results in the matter of surplus honey 

 some apiarists practice caging the queen for 

 a time, thus putting a stop to the depositing 

 of eggs, and to that extent to the feeding of 

 brood. Is not natural swarming nature's 

 way of checking the queen ? And, if so, may 

 not artificial swarming be so managed that 

 the same check is given and equally desira- 

 ble results obtained V 



The accompanying table gives the details 

 of an experiment, such as circumstances 

 permitted, conceived for the purpose of 

 gaining, if possible, some satisfactory in- 

 formation on the matters referred to. The 

 scantiness of the honey flow has prevented 

 the attainment of the degree of success 

 hoped for, and, besides, the experiment, 

 cast in an entirely new field, has been a sort 

 of groping one, and yet, I think it will be 

 found far from barren of valuable results. 



One of the most perplexing, and at the 

 same time one of the most natural things, 

 that enter into the problem, is the satisfac- 

 tory estimation of the amount of food 

 necessary to produce tlie brood which each 

 colony has reared during the process of the 

 experiment ; for it is evident that unless the 

 colonies are of the same strength, and the 



