58 DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



Increase 



We do not believe in natural swarming. So we do every- 

 thing that will tend to prevent it. Although "bees never do 

 things invariably," as very truly said by Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 we have very little swarming, little enough to render it un- 

 important and the watching for swarms a negligible matter. This 

 is of importance to us, since we are constantly busy at a variety 

 of labor, for we are not only beekeepers, but also dealers in bee 

 goods and makers of comb foundation, with a large force of 

 men under our direction. It is also very important not to be 

 required to keep a watchman at each outapiary. It is true 

 that there are seasons when the bees get ahead of us and when 

 it might pay to keep a watchman at each apiary. But these 

 seasons are rare. In 50 years past, we have remembrance of 

 only two, when the bees got so far ahead of us that we had 

 swarms, in great numbers, that were not cared for. A little 

 farther along we will give our method of preventing swarming. 

 We will first give our method of making increase. 



We stated, in the chapter on spring management, that we 

 do not now rear our own queens. But as we have reared queens 

 for increase, at one time, we will indicate the method which 

 we followed when neither the Doolittle method, nor the still more 

 modern Barbeau method, were in use. The apiarist who wishes 

 to rear queens, in the most modern way, should refer to special 

 works on queen-rearing. 



Queens for Increase 



In early spring we remove as much as possible, all drone- 

 comb from the colonies, except from two or three which we desire 

 as drone breeders. These are among our best honey producers of 

 the previous year. We want them pure Italians, because 

 both past experience and breeding theories indicate that hybrids, 

 however good they may prove as honey producers, do not 

 transmit their qualities so invariably as a pure race. 



We also prefer pure Italians to other foreign races, because 

 with the Italian we can readily recognize the least amount of 



