Part 4

=Nucleus system.=--A better plan, though not so quickly completed, is to take from the populous colony only enough bees and combs to make a fair nucleus on a new stand. A queen is easily and safely introduced into this nucleus, or a queen cell is readily accepted a day or two later. As soon as the young queen has begun egg laying, combs of emerging brood may be added from time to time. These may be obtained from any populous colonies whose tendency to swarm it is desirable to check, the bees adhering to them when they are removed being in all instances brushed back into their own hive. With fair pasturage the nucleus will soon be able to build combs and may be given frames of comb foundation, or, if the queen be of the current year's raising, frames with narrow strips of foundation as guides may be inserted, since all combs constructed by the nucleus will be composed of worker cells.

=Shaken or brushed swarms.=--The practice of shaking or brushing bees from the combs of populous colonies into new hives to form artificial or forced swarms has been practiced for many years, to a limited extent in this country and more largely abroad. As early, at least, as 1872 the late C. J. H. Gravenhorst, the editor of Die Illustrierte Bienenzeitung, author of Der Praktische Imker, and inventor of the Bogenstuelper hive, made artificial swarms in this manner. His articles led the author to experiment in this line and finally to settle upon the plan of placing colonies designed for honey production in pairs in the apiary and, after having brought them up to a suitable strength, shaking or brushing most of the bees of the two into a third hive at the approach of the main honey flow, one queen being allowed to enter the new hive with the shaken swarm. The latter is to be placed on the old stand midway in position between the spots previously occupied by the parent colonies, these having been removed some distance, to be managed thereafter as colonies that have swarmed. The newly shaken swarm is to receive comb foundation starters in the frames and within a day or two surplus receptacles for honey. In case, however, drawn combs be used in the super, there had better be one or two frames in the brood apartment partly filled with completed comb to hold the first pollen collected. The shaking or brushing should be done toward the latter part of the day and during a time when new honey is coming in, or in the absence of the latter liberal feeding should precede the shaking and be kept up until the start of the honey flow. The shaken swarm is thus brought into quite the same condition as usually obtains in the case of a natural swarm. It is able to send out a strong gathering force at once and will store honey rapidly. The increase of 50 per cent is as large as is consistent with the securing of the best honey yield.

PREVENTION OF SWARMING.

Under the conditions most frequently occurring, however--that is, where it is not practicable to be present at all times during the swarming season, or where the desired number of colonies has been attained--a system of management is advisable which in general contemplates the prevention, in so far as possible, of the issuance of swarms without at the same time interfering with honey storing. The paragraphs following on this subject are taken from the Department publication "The Honey Bee," cited on page 15, footnote:

The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure is that of giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be effective should be given early in the season, before the bees get fairly into the swarming notion, and the honey should be removed frequently, unless additional empty combs can be given in the case of colonies managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections should be given additional supers before those already on are completed. With colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as in those run for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. Free ventilation and shading of the hives as soon as warm days come will also tend toward prevention. Opening the hives once or twice weekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But sometimes swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. The plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and is in general not worth the effort it costs and can not be depended on.

=Dequeening.=--The removal of a queen at the opening of a swarming season interferes, of course, with the plans of the bees, and they will then delay swarming until they get a young queen. Then, if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time, or other yields come later in the season, is likely or even nearly sure to be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood roaring may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan is therefore not to be commended.

=Requeening.=--Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season with a young one of the same season's raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible to rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during the first season, and, as they are vigorous layers, the hive will be well populated at all times and thus ready for any harvest. This is important, inasmuch as a flow of honey may come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon; and also, since the conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield will also differ with the season the same as the quantity may vary. Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter. The plan is conducive to the highest prosperity of the colonies, and is consistent with the securing of the largest average yield of honey, since, besides giving them vigorous layers, it generally keeps the population together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be commended on all accounts as being in line with the most progressive management, without at the same time interfering with the application of other preventive measures.

=Space near entrances.=--Arranging frames with starters, or combs merely begun, between the brood nest and the flight hole of the hive, while the bees are given storing space above or back of the brood nest (figs. 7 and 8), is a plan strongly recommended by Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, and which has come to be known as "the Simmins nonswarming method," some features of it and the combination into a well-defined method having been original with him. It is an excellent preventive measure, though not invariably successful, even when the distinctive features brought forward prominently by Mr. Simmins--empty space between the brood combs and entrance, together with the employment of drawn combs in the supers--are supplemented by other measures already mentioned; but when, in addition to the space between the brood and the flight hole, the precaution be taken to get supers on in time, to ventilate the hive well, and to keep queens not over two years old, swarming will be very limited. If to these precautions be added that of substituting for the old queens young ones of the current season's raising, before swarming has begun, practical immunity from swarming is generally insured.

=Selection in breeding.=--Some races of bees show greater inclination than others toward swarming, and the same difference can be noted between individual colonies of a given race; therefore, whatever methods be adopted to prevent or limit increase, no doubt the constant selection of those queens to breed from whose workers show the least tendency toward swarming would in time greatly reduce this disposition. Indeed, it is perfectly consistent to believe that persistent effort, coupled with rigid and intelligent selection, will eventually result in a strain of bees quite as much entitled to be termed nonswarming as certain breeds of fowls which have been produced by artificial selection are to be called nonsitters. These terms are of course only relative, being merely indicative of the possession of a certain disposition in a less degree than that shown by others of the same species. It might never be possible to change the nature of our honeybees so completely that they would never swarm under any circumstances, and even if possible it would take a long period, so strongly implanted seems this instinct. But to modify it is within the reach of any intelligent breeder who will persistently make the effort. Such work should be undertaken in experimental apiaries where its continuance when a single point has been gained will not be affected by the changes of individual fortunes.

SPECIAL CROPS FOR HONEY ALONE NOT PROFITABLE.

With a small apiary, planting for honey alone certainly can not be made profitable. Small plats of honey-producing plants are valuable mainly because they afford an opportunity of observing when and under what circumstances the bees work on certain blossoms, and for the purpose of determining what might be depended upon to fill a gap in the honey resources of a given locality whenever the size of the apiary might make this a consideration of some importance. Even with a large apiary probably no case exists in which, in the present condition of the subject, planting for honey alone would prove profitable. But when selecting crops for cultivation for other purposes, or shrubs and trees for planting, the bee keeper should of course choose such as will also furnish honey at a time when pasturage for his bees would otherwise be wanting.

As complete a list as possible should be made of the plants and trees visited by honeybees, and notes should be added as to period of blossoming, importance of yield, whether honey or pollen or both of these are collected, quality of the product, etc. If gaps occur during which no natural forage abounds for the bees, some crop can usually be selected which will fill the interval, and, while supplying a continuous succession of honey-yielding blossoms for the bees, will give in addition a yield of fruit, grain, or forage from the same land. The novice is warned, however, not to expect too much from a small area. He must remember that as the bees commonly go 2-1/2 to 3 miles in all directions from the apiary, they thus range over an area of 12,000 to 18,000 acres, and if but 1 square foot in 100 produces a honey-yielding plant they still have 120 to 180 acres of pasturage, and quite likely the equivalent of 30 to 40 acres may be in bloom at one time within range of the bees. A few acres more or less at such a time will therefore not make a great deal of difference.

But if coming between the principal crops--especially if the bees, as is often the case, would otherwise have no pasturage at all--the area provided for them may be of greater relative importance than the larger area of natural pasturage; for it frequently occurs that the smaller part only of the honey produced by the field over which the bees of an apiary range can be collected by them before it is washed out by rains, or the liquid portion is evaporated and the blossoms withered, while a smaller area may be more assiduously visited, and, the nectar being gathered as fast as secreted, a greater yield per acre may result.

It is further of some importance to fill in such a gap with something to keep the bees busy, instead of letting them spend their time trying to rob one another; and, what is probably even more important, the pasturage thus furnished will keep up brood rearing and comb building and assist materially in preparing the colonies for the succeeding honey flow.

There are many plants and trees of economic value, in addition to their production of honey, which may be utilized in one portion or another of the United States in the manner indicated. Adaptability to climate and soil, the periods of honey dearth to be filled in, markets for the crop produced, etc., must all come in to influence the choice. The following list includes the more important plants of economic value in this country which are good honey and pollen yielders. Most of those named are adapted to a considerable portion of the Union. Except in the case of plants restricted to the South, the dates given are applicable, in the main, to middle latitudes.

ECONOMIC PLANTS AND TREES FOR CULTIVATION FOR HONEY AND POLLEN.

=Filbert bushes=, useful for wind-breaks and for their nuts, yield pollen in February and March.

=Rape= can be grown successfully in the North for pasturage, for green manuring, or for seed, and when permitted to blossom yields considerable pollen and honey. Winter varieties are sown late in the summer or early in the autumn, and blossom in April or May following. This early yield forms an excellent stimulus to brood rearing. Summer or bird rape, grown chiefly for its seed, blossoms about a month after sowing. It does best during the cooler months of the growing season.

=Russian or hairy vetch= is a hardy leguminous plant of great value for forage and use in green manuring. The blossoms appear early in the season, and, where there is any lack in early pollen, especially in northern and cool regions, this vetch will be found of great value to the bees.

=Fruit blossoms=--apricot, peach, pear, plum, cherry, apple, currant, and gooseberry--yield pollen and honey in abundance during April or May; strawberry and blackberry are sometimes visited freely by bees, but are generally far less important than the others mentioned. Colonies that have wintered well often gather during apple bloom 12 to 15 pounds of surplus honey of fine quality. The raspberry secretes a large amount of nectar of superb quality, and coming in May or June, thus later than the other fruit blossoms and when the colonies are stronger and the weather is more settled, full advantage can nearly always be taken of this yield. Grape and persimmon blossom also in June; the latter is an excellent source. In subtropical portions of the country orange and lemon trees yield fine honey in March and April, and the cultivation of the banana has added a profuse honey yielder which puts forth successive blossoms all through the summer months.

=Locust=, =tulip tree= ("poplar," or whitewood), and =horse-chestnut=, useful for shade, ornament, and timber, are all fine honey producers in May. The locust yields light-colored, clear honey of fine quality, the others amber-colored honey of good body and fair flavor.

=Clovers.=--Crimson, blossoming in April or May, yields fine, light-colored honey; white, alsike, and mammoth or medium, blossoming in May, June, and July, give honey of excellent quality and rich yellow color.

=Mustard= grown for seed flowers from June to August. The honey is somewhat acrid and crystallizes soon, yet the plant, where abundant, is of much importance to the bees and the bee keeper in case other forage is scant at the time.

=Asparagus= blossoms are much visited by bees in June and July.

=Esparcet=, or =sainfoin=, yields in May and June fine honey, almost as clear as spring water. It is a perennial leguminous plant, rather hardy, an excellent forage crop, and particularly valuable for milch cows. It succeeds best on a limestone soil or when lime is used as a fertilizer, and is itself an excellent green manure for soils deficient in nitrogen and phosphoric acid.

=Sulla, or sulla clover=, a perennial plant, closely related to esparcet or sainfoin, succeeds, like the latter, best upon limestone soil or when fertilized with lime. It yields a splendid quality of honey from beautiful pink blossoms, which continue during May and June. The plant is an excellent soil fertilizer and of great value in connection with the feeding of stock, particularly dairy animals. It is, however, much less hardy than esparcet, and success with it can therefore hardly be looked for above the latitude of North Carolina and Arkansas. When the qualities and requirements of this plant were brought by the writer to the notice of a prominent scientific agriculturist of the South, this gentleman suggested as very probable that the black belt of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas would be well adapted to it, the lands of this region being exceedingly strong in lime. In portions of southern Europe sulla clover is a most important forage crop for farm stock as well as for honey bees.

=Serradella= is an annual leguminous plant which will grow on sandy land, and which yields, besides good forage, clear honey of good quality in June and July.

=Chestnut=, valuable for timber, ornament, shade, and nuts, yields honey and pollen in June or July.