8 MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



combs in each hive being nearly solid with brood, except those which were 

 weak in the spring. That the colonies having eight frames of brood need 

 not contract the swarming fever before I visit the apiary again, and that 

 all may be as nearly equal as possible when the bloom from white clover 

 opens, I take one of the most nearly full frames from these — a frame com- 

 posed of nearly or quite all sealed brood from which I see a few bees just 

 beginning to emerge— and put the same in one of the colonies having bvit 

 six frames of brood, putting the nearest empty comb this colony has, taken 

 to make room for this frame of emerging brood, in the colony from which 

 the brood came. In this way all are made as nearly equal as possible. As 

 brood-rearing has been going on now for about a month, the hives are so 

 well filled with bees that there is no danger of any setback from a cold 

 spell; and if we are to stop all swarming entirely except in the occasional 

 season referred to above, no swarming being a thing most ardently desired 

 for an out-apiary, if not an actual necessity, we must now "pave the way" 

 for the same by commencing before the bees have any thought of the 

 "swarming season." 



After clipping all the queens, and fixing the brood as above, and 

 having jotted down on the 8 x 16 x %, inch smooth board I have carried 



DOOLITTLB'S EECOEDBOAED FOR THE APIARY. 



with me the condition of each colony, I sit down a few minutes to outline 

 the season's work from what the board shows.' This board has on it, in 

 miniature, a sketch of the whole out-apiary — each row of hives, and each 

 hive in its place, shown in squares on either side. Each square is num- 

 bered the same as the hives, and in these squares I make a record at each 

 visit, giving by brief signs the condition of each colony and its needs, 

 slipping the board under the cushion to the seat of the vehicle I use in 

 going to and from the apiary. 



In this way I have the exact condition of the apiary spread out before 

 me at any time I may wish to know about it. I now find that 13 of the 

 19 colonies have 7 combs of brood each, and are good enough to receive an 

 extra story at this time; and these, together with three others, are set apart 

 for section honey, or 16 in all; the three weak colonies (and nine others 

 to be made later) are to carry out the other part of the plan, to be given 

 later on. 



HOT? TO MAKE COMB-HONEY COLONIES AT AN OUT-APIARY 



FOR BROOD-REARING. 



'rich" in stores 



So far I have been working for the largest possible amount of brood 

 which will give bees m great numbers at the time of the honey harvest, and 



