FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 175 



FORCED SWARMING, 



This plan has come into great prominence lately under the 

 name of forced, shaken, or brushed swarms. Gravenhorst, the 

 great German authority, practiced and advocated it in the sev- 

 enties of the last century. L. Stachelhausen was earnest in his 

 advocacy of the plan in this country, and E. R. Root, editor of 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, took it up with great enthusiasm. 

 Probably a good many had done more or less at it independent- 

 ly, for it would naturally suggest itself that taking away all 

 the brood would leave a colony in much the same condition as 

 if they had swarmed ; and in actual practice most of those who 

 Lad tried the plan have found bees no more inclined to swarm 

 after it than after natural swarming. 



FORCED VERSUS NATURAL SWARMING. 



Many have found the plan a material advance over natural 

 swarming. One very great advantage is sufficient to commend 

 it; the beekeeper is master of the situation, and is not depend- 

 ent upon the whims of the bees as to when they shall swarm — 

 an inestimable boon to those who have out-apiaries, and in- 

 deed to any one who does not wish the trouble of watching 

 for swarms. 



It also gives the beekeeper control over the number of bees 

 that shall remain with the swarm. In natural swarming there 

 may be too few bees go with the swarm for best results in stor- 

 ing, while there may still be not enough for any hope of 

 good work in the parent colony, with a possibility of this lat- 

 ter force being still further divided by after-swarms. In the 

 case of a forced swarm, all the bees may be allowed to remain 

 on the old stand except merely enough to care for the brood 

 which is taken away. This brood may then be put on a new 

 st.i nd, and with the addition of a queen or a queen-cell allowed 

 to start out on its career as an independent colony. 



SHAKING OFF ALL BEES. 



Or the forced swarm may be made still stronger by giving 

 it all the bees, and distributing the brood to nuclei, weak col- 



