Comb Spacing 
When Mr. Langstroth invented the movable comb hive in 185] 
he made it so that the combs were spaced 1 3/8 inches from centre 
to centre, and this is the comb spacing provided by the Langstroth 
hive as today manufactured. 
About 1858 when Mr. Quimby tried the movable hive, he changed 
some of the dimensions, retaining the essential feature of mobility 
of the combs and declared 1 1/2 inches to be the proper spacing. 
The Dadants at Hamilton, Illinois, now operating 800 colonies of 
bees, aodpted the Quimby spacing (1 1/2 inches) and have used it 
about 50 years. Dadants claim a much smaller proportion of swarm- 
ing than do other beekeepers, and contend that the increased spacing 
is an important factor in swarm prevention. This is really an in- 
creased ventilation measure, as the brood is the same thickness as 
in combs spaced 1 3/8 inches apart thus providing an added eighth 
of an inch between the combs of the brood, facilitating ventilation. 
Those using the ten-frame hive may secure the one and one- 
half inch spacing by leaving out one comb and spacing the re- 
maining nine an equal distance apart. 
Destruction of Queen Cells 
Another swarm prevention measure is the destruction, as often 
as once in seven days, of all swarm queen cells started. 
When a swarm queen cell contains an egg or a grub but two 
or three days old, the destruction of such cell by jabbing with the 
finger or hive tool and providing increased room and ventilation 
will often be sufficient to cause the bees to abandon further efforts 
toward swarming. Damaging a queen cell is as effective as re- 
moving it, as the bees do not repair one which has been damaged. 
When, however, the cell has an older grub in it or is sealed, rarely 
will anything short of swarming, either natural or artificial, cause 
them to settle down again to honey production without a period 
of loafing. Bees balked in their efforts to swarm often become so 
demoralized as to be of no value as producers for several days. They 
lose what Mr. Demuth has termed the “colony morale.” It is of 
the utmost importance that this be preserved if the most effective 
work is to be done by the bees. 
SWARM CONTROL 
Clipping the Queen’s Wings 
When a colony is found with swarm preparation measures so 
well under way as to make preventive measures seem inadvisable, 
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