114 



A Modem Bee-Farm 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SIMMINS' NON-SWARMING SYSTEM. 



THIS System of Management was^first made public by 

 the issue of my Pamphlet on the subject in February, 

 1886. In the same worJc I claim that '■'■No colony in normal 

 condition attempts to swarm unless it has all its brood combs completed;" 

 and, further : " To reduce the matter to a greater certainty, 

 while admitting that bees may sometimes swarm if such open 

 space and incomplete brood combs happen to be situated at the 

 back, or the point farthest from the entrance, the author 

 insists that the open space and unfinished stock comhs shall always be 

 at the front, or adjoining the entrance." That is, at the front 

 where long hives are used ; or between (and under) the' brood 

 nest and the entrance where hives are tiered one above the 

 other ; the latter plan always being the more satisfactory for 

 general working. 



The idea had been long fixed in the minds of bee-keepers 

 that unless the bees were crowded into the supers nothing 

 would induce them to work there. On the contrary, however, 

 I have had them storing .freely in several sets of supers, while 

 at the same time they had eleven empty " standard " frames' 

 immediately below the brood nest, with free communication 

 between. 



But an important item in the new management consists in 

 supplying every section with fully-worked combs, so that the 



