THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
43 
twenty-four days and insert four empty combs, 
as I gave directions in the A pi for 188(1. If 
not he will use them up, getting honey accord- 
ing to the plan advised by friend Demarce of 
Kentucky. As soon as the old colony gets a 
laying queen two or more wide frames of sections 
arc placed on these according to their strength 
so that all are kept adding their uiite to the 
aggregate season’s crop. I might go on and 
multiply words regarding this great subject 
of getting comb honey, but as this article is 
already too long I will stop here, trusting that 
I have made all sufficiently plain to enable the 
reader to secure a good yield of section honey. 
In closing let me emphasise that of all other 
things the getting of the bees in time for the 
harvest is the most essential point, and the 
next is keeping of all hands to work by adapt- 
ing the size of the brood chamber and amount 
of surplus room to the size of the colony. 
Failing in these two you fail of a crop. Suc- 
ceeding in these you are sure of a good harvest 
if the flowers secrete honey. 
(To be continued ) 
SWARMS— NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL. 
British Bee Journal. 
Probably the advocates of artificial swarm- 
ing outnumber those who prefer the natural 
system. The objections to the latter are said 
to be uncertainty, inconvenience, waste of 
time, undesirable increase, loss of swarms, 
multiplication of small and useless second 
swarms, settling in inconvenient places, 
refusal to swarm at all, and remaining idle at 
home, Ac. Bearing all this in mind, we have 
never seen artificial swarms work with half 
the energy of natural ones, and the queens, 
reared under the natural impulse, are almost 
invariably the longest-lived and the most 
prolific. The management of an apiary must, 
of course, be conducted according to the 
intentions of its owner, whether, for instance, 
it is worked for the production of comb or 
extracted honey, for increase with a view to 
the sale of bees, or for queen-raising, or even 
for a combination of all these points. 
Hut whenever it can be arranged to indulge, 
without actual loss, the natural instinct or 
propensity to swarm, wo strongly advocate 
doing so. Much depends on weather. In 
some seasons there is very little disposition to 
swarm. In others, it is next to impossible to 
prevent the issuing of swarms from half- 
finished supers, notwithstanding that plenty 
of room lias been given in all directions. In 
“U. II.,” of loth April last (B.B.J., vol. xiv., 
p. 102), we gave, under the head of “ Prevent- 
ing After-swarms,” a modified plan of the 
Heddon system, which we have practised 
successfully, and whiefi gratifies the natural 
instinct for swarming, either with or without 
Increase, and while working for comb or 
extracted honey. 
With slight alteration, or adaption to cir- 
cumstances, we think the plan would prove 
successful in all cases. For example : when a 
swarm has been installed in the position of 
its parent, with the rack of sections over it, 
brood combs, minus queen-cells, ah an interval 
of a day or two, may be transferred from the 
latter to the former, more room being 
afforded, and an additional rack added ; so 
that a constant addition of young bees is 
made to the swarm at the expense of the 
parent colony, which, no increase being 
desired, is not allowed to rear a queen, or to 
do so in nucleus only. 
Under the swarm-preventing plan, when a 
swarm is put back, and the queen cells are cut 
out, the bees work with little or no energy, 
and more often than not, sulk, and refuse to 
work at all ; and swarming is prevented at the 
loss of honey. When “putting back” is 
practised, it is always best to give room below 
the nest, by nadiring with a small sectional 
hive, about 6in. deep, containing frames of 
4in. depth, placed at 1 j in. from centre to 
centre, and having full sheets of worker- 
celled foundations, and drone larvre should be 
destroyed when excising queen-cells. At the 
same time, more super room may be given if 
honey is coming in fast. 
Mr. Demaree states that, if he wishes to 
prevent further increase, he places his swarms 
on half the usual number of Langstroth 
frames (equal to about seven English Standard 
frames), using only “ starters” in them, and 
fills up the space at the sides of the frames 
with division boards, standing a half-inch 
apart. Over all he places queen-excluder 
zinc, and upon it sets the first tier of surplus 
cases. 
By this management the whole force of the 
new swarm is spent in producing surplus, 
and comes out as a mere nucleus, being 
disposed of as such , at the close of the sea- 
son, either by uniting, or allowing it to 
perish. 
The parent colony is allowed to raise its 
queen, and is retained in stock. Tf increase 
is desired, he hives the swarms on full sets of 
frames (equal to twelve English Standards) 
filled with worker-foundation, and gives the 
colonies abundance of room as fast as they 
require it, practising the tiering system to 
supply their needs. 
If the queens are old there will be danger 
of swarms issuing ; but, as a rule, no swarms 
will issue from new colonies if the queens are 
satisfactory to the workers. This influence, 
or queen condition, gives the key to the 
situation. In practising this plan, the swarm 
should occupy the position of the parent 
colony, the latter being removed to a new 
stand. 
If the queen which leads off the swarm is 
more than two years old, the introduction of a 
fertile young queen would go far to prevent 
all probability of swarming 
