FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 167 



iiie.s, or wbei'cver it will do most" good. In no case, however, 

 would it be a prudent thing in this locality to follow the recom- 

 mendation of some, by putting the brood on a new stand with- 

 out any bees, trusting to the warmth of the weather to hatch out 

 young bees fast enough to care for the brood. If such a colony 

 — if you can call it a colony — ^should not fall a prey to the rob- 

 bers, there would in most eases be a serious loss of brood from 

 starvation and chilling. 



Fig. 56 — Queen-excluder. 



NO FORCED SWARMING TILL QUEEN-CELLS STARTED. 



In no case did I practice this forced swarming till I found 

 by the presence of queen-cells that the bees were thinking of 

 swarming. There would be less labor in the long run (suppos- 

 ing that all were to be swarmed sooner or later) , to do up the 

 whole business at a suitable time, without waiting for the bees 

 to take the initiative. Indeed, conditions may be such in some 

 localities that there might be a loss to wait for queen-cells. 



But the harvests here are such that it is usually better to 

 have swarming delayed. Moreover, a good many of my colo- 

 nies, if let alone, will go throtigh the entire season without 



