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PHE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
commence to lay. But i£ the young queen is 
allowed to hatch before the other cells are re- 
moved, as recommended by some writers, even if 
the cells are removed very soon after the queen 
hatches, there is danger of a second swarm. 
But if all surplus cells are removed before the 
queen hatches, there is no danger of a second 
swarm ; at least, that has been my experience 
the past few years. 
One night last season my son reported six 
second swarms that day (this being only his j 
second season in having charge of an apiary, and 
he had forgotten my instructions of the year be- 
fore) : upon inquiry I learned that he had not 
removed the cells the second time ; or on the 
eighth day, thinking that, if he removed them 
soon after the young hatched from the cell left 
in the hive when looking them over on the fourth 
day after the swarm had issued it would be as 
well. But the result was six after-swarms in one 
day. I visited his yard next day, and assisted 
him to cut out the surplus cells from all that 
had swarmed seven or eight days previously, and 
cautioned him to attend to this matter in the 
future, which he did, and the result was no more 
second-swarms. 
It may be asked, why I cut out the cells so 
soon as the fourth day. My answer is, that it 
sometimes happens that a swarm is retarded 
from coming out, for some days, owing to bad 
weather or some other cause. In such a case the 
young queen will hatch sooner than the eighth 
or ninth day : hence this precaution. As second 
swarms are unprofitable to me, I aim to prevent 
their issue ; and by close attention I find they 
can be prevented. 
Bristol, Vt., March 12, 1889. A. E. Manum. 
QUEENS. 
Giving Laving Queens to Colonies 
Immediately After Swarming. 
Written for the American Rural Some. 
BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 
For years we have boen told that no colony 
should go without, a layirg-queen a single day, 
if it were possible to give them one, and plans 
for introducing queens, which required that the 
hive should be queenless a few days previous, 
liavc been severely criticised. We have also 
been told for years, that the bee-keeper who 
wished to secure the best results from his bees, 
should have a laying queen ready to give each 
old colony as soon as they swarmed, as the time 
lost to them, by reaiing a queen, was equivalent 
to a swarm of bees. 
Being eager to know for myself, all the plans 
which would give the best results, I have 
experimented largely, and the truth of the 
statement that the time lost to the bees in 
rearing a queen in natural swarming, was 
equivalent to a swarm of bees, is the reason it 
has not proven a success. If it were bees I was 
after, the case would be different. 
With me, white clover yields only enough 
honey to keep the bees breeding nicely, and 
prepares them so that they mainly swarm from 
June 20 to July 1, Our honey harvest is from 
basswood, which blossoms from July 10 to 16. 
Now, all who are familiar with natural 
swarming, know that the bees are comparatively 
few in numbers in the spring, and increase by 
the rapidly increasing brood produced by the 
queen, which, in due time, hatch the bees, until 
a swarm is the result. 
By giving a laying-queen to a colony imme- 
diately after it has oast a swarm, we bring 
about the same result (swarming) as before, 
for we place the bees in Ihe same condition. 
The only difference is, that having plenty of brood, 
they build up quicker, and are prepared to 
swarm in a shorter time. As this second 
swarming, brought about by giving the laying 
queen, comes right in our basswood honey 
harvest, it cuts off the surplus honey, for it is 
well-known that bees having the swarming 
fever, do little or no work in the section-boxes, 
and if allowed to swarm, the object we have 
sought after (section-honey) is beyond our 
reach. 
Having given the result of my experience on 
this point, let us look at how the same colony 
1 would work, had we not given the bees a laying 
queen. Eight days after the swarm has issued, 
the first young queen will have emerged from 
her cell, as a rule, when the apiarist should 
remove all the other queen-cells from the hive, 
so that second swarming is entirely prevented. 
In ten days more our young queen is ready to 
lay, which is about the time the basswood begins 
to yield honey largely ; during this period, 
between the time the swarm issued and the 
young queen commences to lay, the bees, not 
having any brood to nurse for the last half of 
the time, consume but little honey ; hence as 
fast as the young bees emerge from the ce-Ils, 
I they are filled with honey ; for bees, not having 
a laying queen, seldom build comb in the seclions, 
especially while there is no unsealed brood in 
the hive. 
Thus, when the young queen is ready to lay, 
she finds every available cell stored with well- 
ripened honey. At this point, the instinct of 
the bees teaches them that they must have brood, 
or they will soon cease to exist as a colony, and 
a general rush is made for the sections, the 
honey from below is carried above, se as to give 
the queen room, and, in a week, we have as a 
result, the sections nearly filled with honey. 
I have often had such colonies fill and com- 
plete 30 two-pound sections in from 8 to 12 
days, while those to which I had given the 
laying-queen immediately after swarming, did 
little but swarm during the same time. — 
American Roe Journal. 
Borodino, N.Y. 
AMERICAN SEEDS. 
Figwort. Spider Plant, Motherwort, Horsemint, 
Catnip, White Sage, Rocky Mountain Bee 
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BEEKEEPERS SUPPLY CO-, 
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