156 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



please about entering it. It is true that if an empty 

 super is put under the others at a time when the harvest 

 is nearing its close, the bees may not do a thing in it, but 

 merely go up and down through it and keep to work in 

 the super above. But it is not so well to have them work- 

 ing so far from the brood-nest with empty space beneath. 

 No bait-section is needed in any super after the first. 



SWARMING NOT DESIRABLE. 



If I were to meet a man perfect in the entire science 

 and art of bee-keeping, and, were allowed from him an 

 answer to just one question, I would ask for the best and 

 easiest way to prevent swarming, for one who is anxious 

 to secure the largest crop of comb honey. There are locali- 

 ties where a large crop of honey is secured in the fall, and 

 in such place, or in any place where the honey-flow is long 

 enough, a larger crop may be secured by increase, but I 

 am not so sure about that. If a man in such a place, 

 starts in the spring with 75 colonies, he may get a larger 

 crop by increasing early enough to 150, supposing 150 

 colonies to be the largest number his field will bear; but 

 would he not have a still larger crop if he had the 150 all 

 through the season and made no increase? However that 

 may be, in my locality, which bee-keepers generally would 

 consider a poor one, where white clover is the chief if not 

 the only source from which a crop may be expected, and 

 where the harvest is all too short, if, indeed, it comes at 

 all — in such a place I am satisfied that more honey can be 

 harvested hy commencing in the spring with the largest 

 number the field will bear, and holding at that number, 

 always providing that the means taken to keep down in- 

 crease shall in no wise interfere with the best work on the 

 part of the bees. 



If I were working for extracted honey, I suppose the 

 matter might be managed, to a great extent, if not to the 



