18 



MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



almost or entirely stops three days later, or at' the time the colony would 

 naturally swarm. When the swarm finds a home, and comb-building be- 

 gins, the queen slowly begins to lay, increasing every day, till at the end of 

 four days she has arrived at her usual prolificness again. And thus the 

 queen is usually from seven to ten days in a partial or wholly resting 

 period, as to egg-laying, at the time of swarming, the same being entirely 

 necessary where increase is done without the interference of man. 



Now, sickness at the time of "shook swarming," in 1906, compelled 

 me to leave a part of the colonies till they contracted the swarming fever 

 and swarmed. I then learned that the stopping of the queen from laying 

 for swarming, before a colony was shaken, and the consequent four days 

 before she arrived at full prolificness again put that colony in the same con- 



dition as the one which contracted the swarming fever after shaking, be- 

 cause no frame partly filled with brood was given. Tor this reason I have 

 emphasized, further on, the shaking of all colonies that are strong enough 

 at the commencement of the honey flow, before they contract the swarming 

 fever. Of course, the upper hive of combs retards preparation for swarm- 

 ing for a long time ; but if the shaking is not done till the bees begin to 

 crowd honey into the combs of the brood-chamber, thus restricting the lay- 

 ing of the queen, swarming is the result, the same thwarting to a greater or 

 less extent the full success of the plan. 



I now get two supers of sections, from the pile which has been brought, 

 8 to 12 supers at a time, each time I have come to the apiary, either with 

 the horse or auto, each super containing 44 one-pound sections, as this is 

 the number of 3I/4 x 5% x 1% sections my super covering a ten-frame 

 Langstroth hive contains. The sections in one of these supers contain 



