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DR. MILLER S 
never be certain of it. Yet it is a rare thing that a colony swarms 
a third time, as in your case. Yet I should not be much afraid to 
breed from such a queen if the colony greatly exceeds other 
colonies in storing. (See “Put-up Plan.”) 
Q. To prevent swarming, I will shove the pile of supers back 
so as to make an opening of one-half inch for ventilation along 
the front. Will this prevent swarming and affect the storing of 
honey? 
A. Ventilating in that way is a help against swarming, al- 
though, of course, it will not prevent it. I have practiced it much, 
and never knew any harm to come from it in the way of chilling 
bees. The only harm is that sections next to the opening are de- 
layed in being finished, but not always. Instead of being shoved 
back, I shove the lower section-super forward. I have used the 
plan with extracting-supers, and “stuttered” them; that is, I 
shoved the lower super forward, the next back, the next forward, 
and so on. . 
Q. If the queen is given plenty of room, will swarming be pre- 
vented, even though the hive be crowded with bees? 
A. It would certainly decrease the tendency to swarm, just 
as increasing the queen’s room for eggs always does; whether 
it could be relied on in all cases as an entire preventative is hard 
t.> say without trying. I should rather expect it would, so long 
as fresh room for the queen is constantly given, and even when 
the flow comes and the lower hive is given above as an extracting- 
super, there ought to be little inclination to swarming, as in the 
case of the Demaree plan. 
Q. I kept my bees from swarming two years ago by placing 
the brood over the queen with an excluder between. When buck- 
wheat came on, I had my hives chock-full of bees. I also had sev- 
eral swarms in September, and that’s rather late for Northern 
New York. I’d like to know how to stop them at that time. 
A. Yes, that’s the plan given by G. W. Demaree, a Kentuckian 
who was prominent in the ranks some years ago. The plan is 
good and the pity of it is that it will work only for extracted, not 
comb. The brood-combs being put above become extracting- 
cembs. To prevent swarming in September (which is not usual, 
I think, but may come where there is a fall flow), it might work to 
try the same plan over again; extract the frames in an upper 
story, put them in the lower story with the queen, the brood 
above, excluder between. If this is done just as buckwheat be- 
gins, it seems it ought to work as well as earlier, 
