258 MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
Instead of waiting for the bees to swarm of their own accord, the 
bee keeper may practice artificial swarming or what is termed “shook 
swarming.” When properly done, this may be made an efficient means 
of controlling natural swarming. The procedure is as follows: Watch, 
all colonies for the first preparations for swarming as manifested by 
the starting of queen cells. As soon as this is noticed, shake most of 
the bees from the combs into a new hive which has been placed on the 
old stand. The new hive may be provided with either starters or full 
sheets of foundation as desired. The full sheets are probably better 
as a greater amount of worker comb is insured, while if starters are 
used there is in a great many cases more or less undesirable drone 
comb built. After shaking, the old hive with brood and the few bees 
that remain is moved to a new location, and allowed to increase again 
to a full colony or the bees may be later added to the shaken swarm. 
Bees thus shaken into a new hive sometimes leave. This can be pre- 
vented by placing a trap at the entrance to retain the queen. Artificial 
swarming should not be practiced too early as the bees are apt to 
swarm naturally later. 
SECURING THE HARVEST. 
PREPARATION. 
Emphasis has been laid on the necessity of securing a large 
force of bees ready to gather the nectar, when the flow comes 
on. It is no doubt true, that for a varying period after emerging, 
the young bees engage in duties on the inside of the hive before going 
into the field. This period is usually about two weeks. By adding this 
time to the three weeks required for the development from egg to the 
emerged insect, it would seem that it requires usually about five weeks 
to develop a field bee. For most of the State of Maryland the fruit bloom 
and other early flowers is usually sufficient to be of decided aid in 
stimulating brood rearing for the harvest to be secured later from 
white clover. Stimulative feeding will no doubt prove profitable es- 
pecially in those years when fruit bloom honey is scarce or entirely 
lacking. 
Extractep Honey. 
Honey may be secured either as extracted or comb honey. It is 
doubtless true that the bee keepers of Maryland, have given far too 
little attention in the past to the production of extracted honey. It is 
not intended to include under the term extracted honey, the product 
secured by mashing combs, honey, pollen and perhaps an occasional 
oe ae brood into one mass and straining the whole through 
cloth. 
Extracted honey is secured from frames of comb that have been 
