62 MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



\erity these tliin_us Itv oijeiiiug- a hive or two set apart for such work, every 

 day or oftener, if 1 thought it necessaiy, would give 76,431 bees on the stag'e 

 of action at the time of the first "shook-swarming," barring accidents. Then 

 sliould we allow 16,431 for these accidental deaths, which would be a greater 

 loss than I would think possible, we would still have 60,000 bees as' the 

 number to commence work in the harvest from white clover, which is a 

 liiighty army sure. 



The second reason was, that these 60,000 bees had no desire to swai'm, 

 so they worked with great energy on every and all occasions, when there 

 A\'as a day or hour, even, when it was suitable for a bee to go out, or for 

 tlie secretion of nectar. 



The tliii'd reason was, the giving of super loom enough, and in such 

 a way that it encouraged them to the greatest activity, kept them from 

 contracting the swarming fever, and at the same time did not, at any point, 

 discoiu'age them from entering this room nor cause them to retreat from 

 any of the room which they had commenced to work in. This giving of 

 storage room, in a way advantageous for the best work, either in a light 

 or heavy- flow of nectar, both before and after our "shook" swarming is 

 done, is an item which has not sufficiently entered into the plans of the 

 past. By this plan the bees are at work in a second hive of combs before 

 they hardly know it ; and at the time of our making them swarm, the whole 

 of that "mighty host" are ready to take immediate possession of the. sec- 

 tions through their previous occupation of a "super hive," which now be- 

 comes their 'richly endowed" home or brood-nest. 



The plan of coaxing bees to an early work in the sections, and at the 

 same time retarding swarming by giving an extraeting-super for a short 

 ]ieriod before the opening of the honey harvest, and on the advent of such 

 liai\ est taking off this super and putting on the sections (this causing the 

 bees to enter readily the sections from haA-ing previously worked in the 

 extracting-super) was originated some years ago. But that plan did not 

 jilnc.e the honey stored in this extracting-super in the sections, nor prevent 

 the swarming of the colonies so treated, later on; but generally right in 

 the height of the honey harvest, when swarming is the most injurious to 

 the prospect of a crop of section honey, hence was only a step in advance 

 of the older ways of working. 



To emphasize a little : The beauty of the plan I have now given is, it 

 puts in the sections all honey not actually used by the bees, and that with 

 no swarming during the honey harvest, or previous thereto, and that with 

 the largest poxsihle force of bees in a colony, consistent with working for 

 section honey. 



T wish .to sjieak a little more about using "bait", sections in the first 

 super put on at time of "shook" swamiing. I prefer to use at least 

 twelve of these, so that the bees will immediately enter the sections with 

 their loads of honey that the queen will oblige them to remove from the 

 combs they me shaken on, so that she may have room for her eggs. Failinii 

 here, iit llie storl, irauld i-oiine o failure in the whole, for this honey must 

 be i'emo\ed if the queen is to keep right on with her prolifieness ; and by 

 having a place for the immediate storing of this honey in the first super 

 above the honey-filled brood-nest, the bees not only carry this honey out 

 of the queen's way, but they also carry that gathered from the field to the 

 sections, this causing the immediate drawing-out of the foundation in the 

 sections, other tlian the baits, so that there is a start made all along the 



