ASTER 
81 
this method is not recommended when pro¬ 
ducing comb honey. To place the old 
brood-chamber above the comb-honey su¬ 
pers would result in the cappings of the 
comb honey being discoloi-ed; and, unless 
the honey flow is quite rapid, too much 
of the honey would be stored in these 
brood-combs as the brood emerges, causing 
the bees to neglect the comb-honey supers. 
Some have reported success by placing the 
old brood-chamber with its emerging brood 
on top of the comb-honey supers but with 
a ventilated bee-escape board between. By 
doing this the brood is kept warm by the 
heat passing thru the wire cloth in the 
escape board and the young bees passing 
thru the bee-escape are added to the colony 
below. 
Various devices have been used to cause 
the young bees of the parent colony to 
unite with the swarm; such as cone escapes 
or tin tubes over the entrance of the par¬ 
ent hive which lead the bees to the en¬ 
trance of the new hive, so that when the 
young bees go out for their first flight 
they do not find their way back into their 
own hive but enter the new one. In this 
way the emerging bees of the parent hive 
can finally all be added to the swarm; but 
the simpler plan of moving the parent 
hive to a new location is most commonly 
used. 
Instead of moving the old hive away 
when making an artificial swarm, the bees 
may be shaken back into their own hive, 
and the combs of brood placed into an¬ 
other hive which is now to house the par¬ 
ent colony. 
If only frames containing foundation 
are used in the new brood-chamber, the 
bees may swarm out and desert their hive 
the next day or even tw T o or three days 
after the artificial swarm was made. To 
prevent this, it is sometimes best to re¬ 
move only a part of the brood at first, 
leaving from one comb up to half of 'the 
combs of brood, being sure that no queen- 
cells are left. Frames of full sheets of 
foundation are then put in to take the 
place of the removed brood. Two or three 
days later, when the foundation is well 
drawn out, the remaining combs of brood 
should be removed. Even when but one 
comb of brood is left to discourage swarm¬ 
ing out, it should be removed within about 
three days; for, if the bees are well along 
in their preparations for swarming at the 
time of making the artificial swarm, they 
may immediately start queen-cells on this 
comb of brood, and sometimes swarm even 
when most of the brood has been taken 
away. 
Combs of honey are sometimes used on 
which to hive artificial swarms. If this 
honey is unsealed, the bees usually carry 
it above promptly; but, if combs of sealed 
honey are used, the bees are not inclined 
to move it up promptly, and they may 
work with less vigor when much sealed 
honey is in the brood-chamber. 
Under the head of Increase, the ques¬ 
tion of various methods for increasing the 
number of the colonies by dividing or oth¬ 
erwise is taken up. The reader should un¬ 
derstand that “artificial swarming” is one 
thing, and “increase by dividing” is en¬ 
tirely another. The former is used to pre¬ 
vent natural swarming, or, rather, to put 
it at a time to suit the convenience of the 
beekeeper and yet get a crop of honey. The 
latter does not contemplate the idea of se¬ 
curing honey, but rather an increase in the 
number of colonies. 
ASTER.-- (Aster, the Greek word for 
star.) Asters are also called starworts, and 
in England Christmas daisies from their 
late period of blooming. This is a genus of 
the Compositae, the largest and most im¬ 
portant plant family, to which also belong 
the goldenrods, sunflowers, thistles, and 
daisies. There are about 142 species of 
asters in North America, and about half 
that number in northeastern America. The 
species are very difficult to distinguish, as 
there are numerous varieties and hyrjrids. 
Asa Gray declares in one of his letters that 
the asters threatened to reduce him to 
blank despair. The so-called flower of an 
aster is in reality a compact cluster, or 
composite, of many small sessile flowers 
subtended by scale-like bracts, termed a 
head or capitulum. The marginal or ray- 
flowers have strap-shaped corollas, and are 
blue, purple, or white, but never yellow. 
The central or disc flowers are tubular, and 
range in color from dark to golden yellow, 
changing in some species in the later stages 
of the flower to crimson purple, brown 
purple, or purple. The genus is repre- 
