CHAPTER XV 
SWARM CONTROL AND INCREASE 
At the close of the chapter on the manipulation of bees, 
it is pointed out that success in honey-production depends 
(1) on getting bees in time for the harvest and (2) on keeping 
them in the proper condition for storing. The first require¬ 
ment is discussed in the chapter immediately preceding. 
However, if a colony of bees builds up rapidly to full strength, 
the beekeeper is confronted by the problem of preventing it 
from dividing its forces, thereby causing him to fail in get¬ 
ting the maximum crop, or even to get no surplus from it. 
This second problem is mainly involved in swarm control, 
but also includes the providing of other conditions favorable 
for storing. 
Loss from division of the working force. 
In the days of the box-hive, success in beekeeping was 
measured by the number of swarms that issued, but the 
beekeeper now knows that he cannot increase the number 
of his colonies during a honey-flow without curtailing his 
crop, unless the increase is made from brood that would 
emerge too late for the resulting bees to assist in gathering- 
nectar. Success in manipulation is now measured by the 
results the beekeeper attains in preventing swarming. If 
swarms issue, as they will at times in spite of every known 
precaution, the beekeeper then aims to use the bees so as 
still to keep them together and thus to overcome the danger 
of a reduced crop. Because the experienced beekeeper so 
well knows that swarming endangefs his crop and also that 
swarms may be lost, the usual statements concerning the 
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