FirTT YEARS AMONG THE BEES 187 



will be still small, and not in large quantity. It appears from 

 this that there is some sulking for a time on the part of the 

 queen, or else that the bees are rather slow to prepare the 

 foundation for her. It is possible that tbis interim without 

 any laying may be an important part of the treatment. I don't 

 know. 



SOME FAILURES. 



At any rate, in the first two seasons of using the plan, 

 there was no case of any colony making any further prepara- 

 tion for swarming after being thus treated. The third season 

 (1902) every thing did not work so smoothly, but possibly 

 the treatment was not fairly administered in all cases. Some 

 of the colonies did not take kindly to the foundation, and in 

 a few cases it looked as if they might have swarmed oUt_ rather 

 than to use the fotmdation. In one case they built comb and 

 started a brood-nest in the vacant part, leaving the foundation 

 untouched. But there was some excuse for this as the founda- 

 tion was weather-beaten and hard. 



WORKING TOWARD NON-SWARMING. 



Of course it is no little work to go through the colonies 

 every ten days up to the time 'of treatment, and I think it 

 likely that it would work all right to treat every c'Okiny on the 

 excluder plan, "or some .other plan, early in the honey flow, 

 whether they had grubs in queen^eells or not. But there are 

 some colonies that will go through the whole season with never 

 a grub in a queen-cell. Possibly one or more eggs may be 

 found in queen-cells at each of several successive visits; pos- 

 sibly eggs may be found at one visit, and none at suc- 

 ceeding visits. And exactly these colonies that never stast 

 cells, or are willing to be .thwarted in it, are the ones most 

 likely to give record yields. To interfere with their work, 

 even for a week in a slight degree, is not desirable. There is 

 also another important reason for aU.owing every coloiny 

 willing to do so to go through the whole season without any 

 preparation for swarming and without any interference. I 

 am trying all the time to work at least a little toward a non- 

 swarming strain of bees, and if all colonies were treated in 

 advance how would I know which were the non-swarmers 



