70 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



the number of nurses, or young- bees. This theory is strengthened 

 by the fact that when bees are given an abundance of empty comb 

 in which to store their honey, swarming very seldom ever occurs. 

 In short, extracting the honej', or, to be more exact, giving plenty of 

 empty comb, is the most successful, practical method of controlling 

 increase. In large apiaries, especially out-apiaries that can be 

 visited only at intervals, it is well-nigh impossible to keep every col- 

 ony always supplied with empty combs, hence there will be occa- 

 sional swarms. If there is to be some one present to hive what few 

 swarms do issue, and prevention of increase is desired simply that 

 the amount of surplus may be g-reater, and the surplus is preferred 

 in the extracted form, then the man with these desires can have 

 them gratified. 



In the production of comb honey it is doubtful if there is a. prof 

 {table method of preventing swarming, although, of late, the prac- 

 tice of what is termed "shook-swarming" enables the bee-keeper to 

 swarm a colony, in a manner very nearly approaching natural 

 swarming-, when he finds that preparations are being made for 

 swarming. When he finds a colony building queen cells, he knows 

 that within a few days, a week at the utmost, the colony will cast a 

 swarm; and, instead of waiting, and allowing the colony to swarm 

 when it has completed its first queen cell, he takes the matter into 

 his own hands by shaking off most of the bees and the queen into a 

 new hive, treating this shaken swarm in exactly the same manner as 

 he would treat a swarm that had issued naturally. In other words, 

 the bee-keeper simply forestalls what would have occurred natur- 

 ally, in a few days, if the colony had been left undisturbed. The ad- 

 vantage is that the bee-keeper can thus bring about the swarming 

 when he is present to attend to it, instead of having it happen when 

 no one is present. This plan enables him to visit out-apiaries at 

 stated intervals, giving each colony an examination, and "shaking" 

 those that are making preparations for swarming. A colony that is 

 not building queen cells is not likely to swarm inside of a week, and 

 may be left undisturbed until the next weekly visit. Another minor 

 advantage of shook-swarming is that it does away with the uniting 

 and mixing up of two or more swarms that may issue at the same 

 time in a large apiary, where natural swarming is allowed. Failures 

 in shook-swarming result, as a rule, from doing the work too early 

 in the season, before the colony has made preparations for swarm- 

 ing, and in not disturbing the bees sufficiently at the time, thus 

 causing them to fill themselves with honey, as they do when swarm- 

 ing naturally. Before beg-inning the work, it is well to jar the hive, 

 or pound upon it, until the bees are thoroughly frig-htened, and have 



