378 APPEJ^^DIX. 



year than last, -where no combs were used as guides. Whether it is owing to the 

 rapidity of collecting honey, or some other cause, I cannot tell with my present ex- 

 perience. But notwithstanding this, this hive has many advantages yet unnoticed, 

 which I will proceed to mention. 



First : Th^ bees are allowed to work in their natural order, and make each comb 

 in a separate frame, capable of being lifted out at pleasure, making it what it is 

 called : " movable-comb hive." It gives control of all the combs : and all necessary 

 operations may be performed without injury to a single bee 1 This principle of 

 getting at the interior of a bee-hive admits of a great many minor advantages. For 

 instance, my first experiment : When one of the stocks that I had transferred (in 

 1858) was sujiposed about ready to cast a swarm, I decided on making one artifi- 

 cially. I had ready an empty hive, and operated in the middle of the day, when 

 the fewest bees were at home, and lifted out bat a frame or two before I found the 

 queen. The comb which she was on was transferred to the empty hive, and then 

 placed immediately upon the stand ; the old hive with the rest of the combs and 

 bees were set upon anew one, several feet distant. I depended on the returning 

 bees to the old stand to make the swarm," the old queen being there, and one comb 

 was deemed sufBcient to keep them. Mr. Langstroth considers this method of 

 making artificial swarms of much risk to the old stock, as too many bees would bo 

 likely to join the old queen on the old stand, and leave the old stock with too few 

 bees to manage it. Yet, on this occasion, and in many subsequent operations of 

 this kiqd, there h^ not been an instance wnere the parent stock was short of bees. 

 I think, therefore, that I 'may safely recommend this method of making, such 

 Bwarras. 1 would add a caution about making them at any other time than the 

 proper season — that is, in a yield.of honey. It would hardly do to remove the old 

 stock when the swarm had been driven out of the common hive, because, in such a 

 case, nearly all the young bees recently matured would be driven out with the 

 queen.* By the use of the frames, there is another advantage in this way : I can 

 ascertain whether any queen-cells are in process of construction ; and, in case none 

 are far advanced, I give one to the old stock (from some other hive, of course,) that 

 will mature almost immediately — an important item, because every day that a fer- 

 tile queen is absent from an old stock, full of combs ready for brood, makes a differ- 

 ence of some fifteen hundred to two thousand bees, amounting in a fortnight to a 

 pretty good swarm. 



With the common hive, and all others with which I am acquainted, there is no 

 way to prevent over-swarming : they will frequently continue to throw out two, 

 three, and even four, the last being small, thereby reducing the old stock very 

 much, if it does not entirely ruin it; but with the help of the frames, it may be 

 prevented. Any time within a week after the first regular swarm, take out all the 

 frames and look them over carefully, and with a knife cut out all the queen-cells 

 but one. Of course, but one queen can mature, and a second swarm need not be 

 expected. 



All stocks that swarm are liable to lose their queens at this season. Unless this 

 loss is ascertained by their peculiar manifestations, within two or three days of 

 its occurrence, it will be too late, for the indications of it will then cease, and I 

 know of no other means of ascertaining it for some weeks afterwards. By this 

 time, it often happens that such stocks are past recovery. This to me is a source 

 of considerable loss, and unavoidable with the common hive, as I have a great many 

 away from home. But with the frames I can ascertain this point at any time, by 

 lifting out one or more after the young queen should have commenced her maternal 

 duties, as eggs or brood indicate her presence without looking for her. 



Every time a stock changes its queen, which all swarming hives do annually, 

 there is a loss of over 20,000 bees I If the reader will please look over page 72, he 

 will comprehend the explanation that I am about to make, without my repeating 

 that statement. The old queen leaves with the first swarm, and no more eggs are 

 deposited before her successor is ready to begin, which is generally from sixteen to 

 twenty days afterwards. If fifteen hundred or two thousand eggs are daily depos- 

 ited — and it seems very evident that this is the case — ^there cannot be less than 

 some twenty-four thousand lost. Now, if we lose a, good, swarm (24,000 bees) 

 while waiting for a queen, we will see if there is any way to prevent so mucli 

 Ewarmingj and consequently loss. Let your bees, if there are stocks enough with 



which to take the trouble, be divided in two lots, at least a mile apart two would 



be oetter. A soon as one or two have swarmed, queen-cells enough for several 

 artificial swarms may be obtained. Just a day or two before they mature is the 

 time to operate, and if possible choose the middle of the day. Tlien go to a stock 

 that can spare a swarm, and hft out the frames and examine them one by one to 

 see that the queen is not on them ; should she be seen, the frame containing h'er 

 with the bees attached, may be put into an empty hive for a few minutes • tha 



* See directions for this on p. 258. 



