ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



159 



he knew. But since the matter has 

 been discussed, we find that numbers 

 ■of close observers had noticed the 

 energy of bees after any manipulation, 



Lewis Scholl assures us that he has 

 observed and utilized the increased 

 energy of bees after any manipulation, 

 notably, after moving them in a 

 wagon for some distance. 



C. P. Dadant testlified at the Chi- 

 cago convention to tihe same thing. 



A. I. Root states that smoking will 

 induce lazy bees to go ' into the sec- 

 tions some tiimes. 



An old' Catholic Father once told me 

 in confidence that he Induced his bees 

 to work in the caps (box hives) by 

 drumnaing steadily on the hive for 

 seven minutes, or long enough to re- 

 peat his aves', or creed, or something, 

 every Friday at twelve o'clock. And 

 I noticed that Ihe always had more 

 honey than his Protestant neigh'bors, 

 who did not drum. 



No less an authority than the late 

 E. W. Alexander ('OS Gleanings, p. 

 196) knew of the energy-giving prop- 

 erties of shaking, and practiced it in 

 his yards. 



And later ('09 Oleanings, p. 2^5), J. 

 E. Crane says: "There s no doubt 

 that shaking at tIhe right time and 

 conditions has its advantages." He 

 then intimates that we had better not 

 be too free to sihake, as the conditions 

 are not always right. As well tell us 

 not to cut any 'hay at all, as the con- 

 ditions are not always right for cur- 

 ing it. 



B. F. Cavanaugh ('09 Gleanings, p. 

 273) insists thait it is "not the sihaking, 

 but the change or disarrangement of 

 the have excitesi the faculty of fixing 

 things, and creates a necessity for ex- 

 tra effort * * * for a colony of bees 

 when shaken is in dire necessity of a 

 new 'home, combs to store honey, etc. 

 For this reason, if not discouraged by 

 shaking under wrong conditions, a 

 gain in energy is resultant." Brother 

 Cavanaugih, let me shake hands with 

 youi on your clear analysis of the mat- 

 ter. 



And another, M. V. Facey, that 

 staunch old Wolverine, ('09 Review, 

 p. 171) in discussing the energy ex- 

 cited by the physical act of frequent 

 extracting, says: "Under exactly sim- 

 ilar oondlitions, one bee-keeper will ra- 

 ced ve fifty pounds per colony; another 

 one,- one 'hundred, and still another re- 

 ceive two hundred pounds." 



CHte then shows conclusively that 

 tIhe added yield was induced by the 

 energy-giving process of frequent ex- 

 tracting. This is a valuable article, 

 and all should read it.) 



He adds in conclusion: "The im- 

 petus thus given can be readily noted 

 in tJie increased vigor of their work; 

 so much so that the apiary leisurely 

 before is changed to vim and energy." 



There is no doubt that Brother 

 Facey has struck the rigiht note, buit 

 as many extracted honey producers 

 wish* to leave their honey in the su- 

 pers to ripen, and as comb honey pro- 

 ducers of necessity must do so until 

 capped, I would suggest that when the 

 hives get full of honey, and the bees 

 are inclined to be lazy, it would an- 

 swer just as well to "shake the bees," 

 and raise the super above an empty 

 one. • 



Again, ('09 Review, p. 106), J. E. 

 Hand, "Opening the hives and 

 manipulating the frames accomplishes 

 the desired object." (i. e., induces 

 greater energy.) 



"I am inclined to believe that this 

 is the right theory, and that shaking 

 is unnecessary. All that is necessary 

 is to tlhoroughly frighten the bees and 

 throw them in a panic, causing them 

 to fill their sacs with honey, and, also, 

 disarrange the combs, etc." 



Right you are, Brother Hand, and 

 here is my hand on it, that it is not al- 

 ways necessary to absolutely "shake" 

 the bees off of the combs, but as the 

 process of shaking is the manipula- 

 tion par excellence that induces the 

 conditions, both mentally and phys- 

 ically Off a newly hived swarm, I chose 

 to apply that term to my system.. 

 "Stirring up" might be a better term 

 to use, but that is hardly sufficient in 

 every case. For instance, :;ou can not 

 always safely introduce a queen by 

 simply smoking, interchanging the 

 frames, or any mild form of "stirring 

 up." It is necessary to "shake," and 

 do it thoroughly, after which you can 

 . safely allow the queen to run in with 

 the bees with assurance that she will 

 be accepted — a bSg thing, some times. 

 In an outyard with limited time. 



Or, again, in moving bees a short 

 distance, the only absolutely sure way 

 to keep all the bees on the new stand 

 is to thoroughly sihake them at night, 

 when all are at home. 



Hence, the term "shake" was chosen 

 with the thought that it would cover 



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