THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
173 
preparations to do so), remove the hive far 
enough from its original stand to be convenient, 
and place new hive on said stand. 
The frames may be filled with empty combs, 
fall sheets of foundation, or foundation starters, 
at the discretion of the operator. We use only 
foundation starters, and I would not advise 
using empty combs, for in case there is a large 
flow of honey the bees will soon fill the combs 
with honey, and the queen will be left without 
cells in which to deposit eggs. If honey is 
coming in at a rate to warrant it, and you wish 
to run them for comb honey, put on the surplus 
receptacles at once, and close the hive, all ready 
to receive the bees. To insure their staying, it 
may be well to put a frame of brood in the new 
hive. 
You are now ready to open the parent hive, 
and shake the bees in front of the new one, and 
let them march in. If the weather is warm, you 
can take nearly all the bees from the old hive, 
as the new one is the one from which ybu must 
get your surplus ; be sure to get the queen into 
the new hive or she may get lost in the grass 
and never find her way into the hive, that is if she 
has clipped wings. You can now move the parent 
hive to a new stand, but before leaving it, cut 
out all queen-cells but one (the best looking and 
furthest developed), and in eight days cut out 
all new ones that they may have started. 
If they have no cells started at the time of 
swarming, they will only need to be removed 
the eighth day, of course leaving the best one to 
hatch as before stated. 1 am well aware that 
many older bee-keepers than myself will not 
favor this method, while there are some of the 
successful veterans who practice it, or something 
similar, almost exclusively. Taking all things 
into consideration, I think there are some 
advantages in it, while we have yet lo find any 
disadvantages. 
What bee-keeper has not seen a colony 
apparently in a condition to east a powerful 
swarm, lingering day after day with a great 
cluster hanging on the outside of the hive that 
might jnst as well be storing many pounds of 
honey, as lounging around doing nothing 1 
This was the case with those we tried last 
summer, and although it was at a time when 
other colonies were doing almost nothing but 
trying to rob, they drew out the foundation, 
and in a short time built up to be a strong 
colony, wintered well, and came out in the 
spring quite strong. 
We have now in our apiary a number of 
colonies that were swarmed artificially on or 
near the same dates as others that cast swarms 
naturally and were hived according to the same 
method. Taking it on an average, I can see no 
difference in their present condition. 
I would not, however, advise anyone to 
practice this method on a large scale, without 
first trying it with a few colonies to see how 
they like it, and it would not be wise to try it 
when bees are not swarming naturally. 
M issouri. 
PREVENTING AFTER-SWARMS. 
A. E. MANCM’S METHOD. 
Having noticed in Gleanings and other bee- 
pericdicals, from time to time, various plans to 
prevent second swarms, all of which I have tried 
without satisfactory results, and having finally 
adopted a method of my own which is somewhat 
different from any I have ever seen in print, I 
will, with your permission, give it to your 
readers, that another drop may be added to the 
great fountain of knowledge from which a clear 
and invigorating stream is constantly flowing 
over the pages of the Gleanings. 
As stated above, I have tried various plans to 
prevent second swarms by hiving in different 
ways, such as moving the old hive to a new 
stand, and hiving the new swarm on the old 
stand ; also setting the old hive on the new 
swarm or the new over the old ; also hiving the 
swarms by themselves, and giving them a portion 
of the brood from the parent hive, etc. All of 
these have proved to be unsatisfactory to me, 
owing to the fact that these methods have a 
tendency to lessen the amount of surplus, since 
the old hive is so reduced that it is a long while 
before it becomes strong enough to work in the 
boxes. Hence we have only the new swarm to 
depend upon for a surplus, where we depend 
wholly upon clover and basswood for box honey. 
I always aim to keep every colony strong — the 
ones that have cast a swarm, as well as the new 
ones. My experience teaches me that light 
swarms during the honey season give no profit. 
I would rather have half a bushel of bees in one 
hive than divided by two, hiving a peck in each 
hive, when the honey season is at hand. 
In hiving bees, the plan that suits me best is 
to return one-third of the swarm to the old hive, 
and hive the remaining two-thirds in a new hive, 
and add to it, as soon as may be, one or more 
two-thirds swarms (without queens this time), 
each time returning the third oi the bees to the 
hive from which they came. The surplus queens, 
if good ones, may be returned to their respective 
hives after cutting out all the queen-cells. By 
this method the old hive is kept well stocked 
with bees, and work in the boxes is but little 
interrupted ; the new colonies are made very 
strong, and in the best of condition to store a 
large amount of honey in the boxe-. As I do 
not desire a large increase of colonies, I strive to 
secure a large surplus, regardless of increase. 
To prevent second swarms I go to the hive 
four days after a swarm has issued, lift out the 
combs one by one, and cut out all queen-cells 
but one, leaving the best one if X wish to rear a 
queen from this stock ; if not, all are cut out, 
and a cell from some other introduced. Then 
in four days more I cut out any queen-cells that 
may have been started, after which there is no 
danger of more being started. Now, when a 
young queen hatches and finds no rival, and the 
bees not being able to rear another, owing to the 
age of the brood, the young queen is permitted 
to leave the hive for fertilization, without the 
bees following her; and in dne time she will 
