528 
INCREASE 
particle of brood or checking the laying of 
this queen; and with me it almost wholly 
prevents swarming. This is the way we 
have made our increase for several years, 
and we like it much better than any other 
method we ever tried. In doing so we keep 
all our colonies strong during the whole 
summer, and it is the strong colonies that 
count in giving us our surplus. 
The mere fact of having a large number 
of colonies does not amount to much unless 
they are strong in bees and are well cared 
for at all times. This is a fact that many 
have sadly overlooked; and when the sea¬ 
son comes to a close, giving them a small 
surplus, they feel disappointed and lay the 
fault on many things that have had but lit¬ 
tle to do with their failure. 
In making increase in the above way the 
new swarm on the old stand is in line shape 
for a super of sections, as it has a large 
working force backed up by having its hive 
nearly full of brood, and but little honey, as 
the bees have been in the habit of storing 
their honey in the old hive that was on top, 
so they will soon go to work in the sections 
with no notion of swarming. Then the old 
hive that has been set away can usually 
spare 15 or 20 lbs. of honey, which can be 
taken with the extractor, giving its new 
queen plenty of room to lay, and in a short 
time will be one of your best colonies, and 
also have no desire to swarm. 
If directions are followed as I have rec¬ 
ommended in the above, keeping them-snug 
and warm, and feeding them a little thin 
warm syrup nearly every day for the first 
30 days after they have commenced to fly, 
you can ha>ve two good strong colonies in 
the- place of one ready to commence work 
on the clover harvest, which here com¬ 
mences about June 15. 
From an extensive experience along this 
line I find I can get nearly twice the amount 
of surplus by dividing as above stated over 
what I was able to acquire either by letting 
them go undivided or dividing in a way that 
caused the loss of a greater part of their 
brood. This losing of brood we must guard 
against at all times if we expect to secure a 
fine surplus. It costs both time and honey 
to produce it, and it is the principal factor 
in obtaining those strong colonies that give 
us tons of honey. 
I find that nearly all who have made a 
failure of the method have taken colonies 
that had already made some preparation for 
swarming by having eggs or larvae in their 
queen-cells. 
During the summer I received a few let¬ 
ters from parties who had made a failure 
of this method in about the same way. Some 
had taken colonies that had capped queen- 
cells in their hives at the time they put the 
queen in the under hive, and, of course, they 
swarmed in a day or two. I cannot see that 
these failures are any proof of fault in the 
method. When we work with our bees we 
must always use some discretion in such 
matters. If a colony is very strong in bees 
it certainly requires different management 
from one rather weak. 
Several years ago one of my sons bought 
nine colonies of bees in common box hives, 
about the first of June. He brought them 
home and transferred them at once to mov¬ 
able-frame hives, and in about three weeks 
divided them, making 20 colonies of the 9 
he bought, using some queen-cells I had on 
hand for his surplus colonies. He then at¬ 
tended to those 20 colonies so they w r ere all 
strong at the commencement of our buck¬ 
wheat harvest. I then lent him 20 hives 
of empty combs to put on top of his colo¬ 
nies to extract from. He took 2849 lbs. of 
extracted honey from those 9 colonies and 
their increase, and left them in good condi¬ 
tion so every one came out the next spring 
in fine order. 
Another son, the same season, took one 
colony, divided into three, and received 347 
lbs. of extracted honey. They also came 
thru the following winter in good condition. 
I speak of these cases simply to show that it 
is not necessary to keep hundreds of colo¬ 
nies in order to get a little honey. If you 
will keep only strong colonies and give them 
the best of care you will soon find both 
pleasure and profit in beekeeping. 
Perhaps no one article that was ever 
published' in Gleanings in Bee Culture 
called forth more discussion than this. A 
few did not succeed with it to their entire 
satisfaction; but the great majority made 
a success of it. Large numbers of some 
of the best beekeepers in the country prac¬ 
tice the method, believing that there is no 
other equal to it. It is evident, however, 
that the article must be read with some 
poetic license. That is to say, it should be 
modified to suit peculiar conditions. Mr. 
Alexander had a remarkable locality. He 
had a fair clover flow in June, and this 
was followed in August by a heavy flow 
from buckwheat, goldenrod, and aster. The 
locality was so exceptional that for years 
he maintained 500 colonies in one location. 
Usually it is not practicable to have more 
than 100 in one place. 
The basic principle of placing the brood 
into a upper story for a few days over an 
excluder before making the division is ac¬ 
knowledged by all to be good. The saving 
of all the brood and conserving the heat 
are factors that make this superior to any 
other method of dividing. 
I)r. C. C. Miller, to whom reference is 
made in various portions of this book, how- 
