27 



movable-frame hive would be greatly impaired otherwise, a 

 comb foundation mill is also a necessity in the equipment of a 

 large apiary- The foundation mill is a patented device con- 

 sisting of two rollers with impressed surfaces working much 

 the same as does a clothes-wringer, in which sheets of wax 

 are pressed out in the form of the septum between the double 

 layers of cells in the natural comb of bees. When these are 

 furnished to the bees the cells are drawn out rapidly from the 

 impressed lines and comb building is greatly facilitated. Dif- 

 ferent sizes of foundation can be made, and the thickness can 

 be regulated. It is customary to put full-sized sheets of foun- 

 dation below the queen-excluder. This portion of the hive 

 is known as the brood nest, and if care is taken in supplying 

 the foundation for the comb, nothing but worker bees will be 

 reared. Narrow strips of comb foundation can be and fre- 

 quently are used in the supers above the queen excluder. 



One of the most favorable conditions surrounding Hawaii- 

 an beekeeping is the rapid rate of increase. The beekeeper 

 with a few hives will often be perplexed about providing for 

 the quickly multiplying colonies, but one desiring to extend 

 his holdings finds this phenomenal reproductivity .a valuable 

 asset in his business. Without the interferente of the bee- 

 keeper the natural increase will be cast off in swarms, which, 

 under favorable circumstances, can be hived, if it is desired to 

 increase the number of colonies. For the professional apiarist, 

 however, this process is obsolete and is replaced by artificial 

 swarming or a division of the colony. Sometimes the colony 

 is divided into two equal parts and a day or two later a queen 

 cell is given to the half having no queen. Usually, however, 

 the new colonies are started by removing a populous colony 

 from its stand and putting a new hive with one or two frames 

 of brood and one or two sheets of comb foundation in its place. 

 The working bees, as they return from the field work, will 

 enter the new hive and make up a second colony, and within 

 twenty-four hours will be working as though nothing had haf>- 

 pened, eventually rearing a queen from the young brood sup- 

 plied. At this time it is well to give them a nine-day-old 

 Queen cell. The queen will emerg^e the next day and thus save 

 the bees some loss of time. This style of colony is usually 

 called a nucleus, and must build up its numbers before it can 

 supply any surplus honey. The populous colony should be 

 moved at least four or five yards from the old stand. Should 

 a natural swarm occur, the opportunity to hive it should never 

 be neglected. 



This brings us to a consideration of industrial beekeeping 

 proper, or a business running a thousand or more colonies- 



