62 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



With the Heddon hive, in which the brood chamber is horizon- 

 tally divisible, simply using- only one section of the brood nest con- 

 tracts the brood nest to about the proper capacity. This method of 

 contraction is preferable to using dummies. Not only is there less 

 labor and complication, but the flatness of the brood nest, and the 

 absence of any dummies under the outer sections, make the bees 

 more inclined to work in the sections. 



When the brood nest is very much contracted, it has a tendency 

 to cause a newly hived swarm to "swarm out" and leave the hive. 

 When there is trouble from this source, the brood nest may be used 

 nearly or quite full-size for two or three days, until the swarming- 

 fever has abated, and the bees have settled down to steady work. 

 If newly hived swarms begin "swarming out," when I am using the 

 new Heddon hive, I use a full-size brood nest for three days, and 

 then shake the bees from the lower section of the hive, and use this 

 section for the uf-per section of the next hive into which I put a 

 swarm. 



It has been urged against contraction that it results in small 

 colonies at the end of the season. If it is carried to too great an ex- 

 tent, and too long continued, it certainlj^ does. If a man wishes to 

 turn bees into honey, so to speak, conti-action of the brood nest will 

 enable him to accomplish his object. If colonies are too weak in the 

 fall as the result of severe contraction, they must be united; but the 

 course pursued by nearly all who practice contraction, is to enlarge 

 the brood nest again in time for the colony to build up sufficiently for 

 a fall flow of honey, if there is one, or to become strong- enough for 

 winter. When bees are wintered in a repository of the proper tem- 

 perature, I have never found that unusually populous colonies were 

 any more desirable than smaller ones. This is one advantage of 

 cellar-wintering, the population may be reduced to the minimum 

 during- the consumptive, non-productive part of the year. 



