THOUSAND ANSWERS 
239 
method with one colony, and it was quite successful. Will it al- 
ways be successful? 
A. The plan is good and will usually be successful; but 
sometimes you may miss a cell, and sometimes the only cell you 
leave may be bad. 
Q. If a young queen is given to a colony in the spring, will 
swarming be retarded, and if so, to what extent? That is, how 
much more crowding will they stand, or the reverse? 
A. If a queen that has been laying only a few days be given 
at the beginning of the swarming season, and if the colony has 
not yet made preparations for swarming, there is very little 
chance of swarming that season. The same is true to a greater 
01 less extent if the young queen be given earlier. I am not sure 
about the retarding, but the chances for swarming are greatly 
lessened by the giving of a young queen. When you ask me to 
tell just how much crowding they will stand, you’re crowding me 
in too tight a corner. Fact is, I don’t know. I think something 
depends upon the queen, and perhaps still more on the bees. With 
some bees, a vigorous young queen could probably not be forced 
to swarm by any amount of crowding, provided the queen were 
not given too early, and from that it will shade all the way down 
to where allowing only room for 25 pounds of honey might induce 
swarming. 
Q. What per cent of swarming do you have, in spite of all 
your preventatives? 
A. I count the prevention of swarming an unsolved problem. 
At a rough guess I should say that there may be from 5 to 10 
per cent of the colonies actually swarm. But if they do swarm, 
nc swarm is ever hived as a separate affair, but obliged to remain 
in its old colony, for one of the important points in securing 
good yields is to keep from dividing the forces. 
Q. I want to tell you of a colony I have which swarmed on 
May 30, June 30 and July 30. Each time it was treated by the 
put-up plan. I want to ask what to do with this queen? She has 
swarmed out three times so far, and has made twice as much sur- 
plus in sections as any other colony I have. She is a nice, large 
queen, very prolific; but I don’t like this thing of swarming. 
Would you breed from such a queen? I like her because she has 
such nice workers, busy all the time, and, as I stated, made me 
more surplus by far than any other colony. 
A. Generally, after a colony has been treated by the “put-up” 
plan, there will be no more swarming for the season, but you can 
