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they place them upon another basket or hive. It is in this manner 

 that the GreekvS multiply their hives." The abbot, ])ella Rocca, of 

 Syra, in the Grecian archii)elago, in his Traite complet sur les Aheilles, 

 published at Paris in 1790, mentions this as '^ a method of the ancient 

 Greeks for the multiplication of swarms, which is emx)loyed today by 

 the inhabitants of the Island of Candia." And 

 Liger, the author of La Maison rustique^ in the 

 eighth edition published in 1742, gives a figure of 

 one of these basket hives, which is here reproduced 

 (Fig. 30). 



Most of the systems of preventing or limiting 

 natural swarming have depended upon the for- 

 mation of a limited number of artificial swarms, 

 frequent destruction of queen-cells by the bee- 

 keeper, close use of the honey- extractor, the com- 

 bining of after-swarms, changing places for hives, 

 replacing of all queens annually, supplying empty 

 space for comb-building below the brood-nest or between the brood- 

 nest and flight-hole, or there has been some combination of these 

 methods. 



Fig. 30.— Ancient Greek 

 movable comb hive. 

 (From La Maison rus- 

 Hque, published in 1742). 



From time to time queens have been advertised as bred from '^ non- 

 swarming strains of bees." While it is very reasonable to suppose 



Fig. 31.— Bee-hives with Langdou non-swarmer attached : J., .B, hives; ^, <?', supers ; Z), non-swarming 

 device; e, e', entrances corresponding to hive-entrances ; si, slide for closing entrance ; c, c', conical 

 wire-cloth bee-escapes ; ex, ex', exits of same. 



that the inclination to swarm might be decreased considerably by long- 

 continued, careful selection, such as could be given had we better con- 

 trol over mating, it is safe to say that comparatively slight permanent 

 results have thus far been attained in this direction. And since swarms 



