The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-08-13

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) not be used unless imperative.
The aim of the modern apiarist Il
I to select race of bees, which /,
gentle to handle and given to hone,
production. The passing of the OLE
black bees has not only made the
work of the apiarist more congenial
but has introduced races that pro
duce a much greater amount OF
\ honey. Among the most gentle are
| the Carniolians, Caucasians and Ital.
ians. Carniolians are considered the
gentlest, but Italians are kept by two
thirds of. all the apiarists in this coun.
try, and the consensus of opion is
that they are unexcelled by any 9TH
er breed. A colony Of black bees may
be converted into Italians by intro
ducing the Italian queen.
One Of the greatest improvements
Is the modern box hive, with broad
chamber, movable frames and supers.
| by means of which the honey can be
removed from the hive without de-
stroying the colony. The first hives
were made Of straw and called
"skeps." Only by killing the bees
could the honey be obtained. This
was followed by the plain single box,
which was little Improvement over
| the former since it was necessary in
both to destroy the bees. The latest
improved hive is so constructed that
the bees can be handled without any
injury whatever. The lower section
Is called the brood chamber in which
are suspended Langstroths frames.
These frames are not removed as they
furnish food for the bees during the
winter. The super is placed above
and the honey is removed from it as
soon as full or left until the close
Of the season, depending on local
conditions. No one should attempt, to
keep bees and use other than the
very latest and best hives as it makes
the life Of the bee keeper more com
Portable and his labor more profit
able.
There are two ways of perpetuating
the life Of the. hive. One is natural
swarming, the other artificial. The
former is always to be preferred,
though it may be necessary at times
to use both in order to increase the
hives to the requisite number. us
ually natural swarming will keep the
number of colonies in a strong and
healthy condition. When the hive
becomes too full of bees and honey
the queen will decide that 1t is time
to move out and establish her colony
elsewhere. She will summon to her
command a colbert of workers and
will give the signal to depart, which
will be followed by the exodus. I'll
the wings Of the queen have not been
clipped she may lodge in high tree
or low tree, according to her own
Judgment. If the wings of the queen
have been clipped she will lodge on
the ground after coming out of the
hive and the bees will gather around
her. The old hive is removed and
new one put In its place and the
queen is placed therein, after which
all the bees will follow her and es-
tablish themselves in their new quar-
tiers. A number Of devices have been
invented to control swarming but 1t
does not appear that they are gen
orally adopted by experienced api-
artists. Clipping the wings of the
queen seems to be the plan advocated.
1T will sometimes happen that one
has all the colonies desired, and
would therefore prevent swarming.
No perfectly reliable plan has yet
been discovered since 1t is unnatural
for bees not to swarm. However, by
complying with certain conditions,
swarming may be reduced to min
lmum. Theuse of large hives with
plenty of room in the supers will
discourage swarming, for one of the
principal reasons for swarming is
that the hive becomes covered with
bees and honey. Another is to re-
move the queen before swarming
time and the tenth day thereafter
destroy all queen cells, which will
have tendency to arrest swarming
'or time. 1t is not usually done,
however, as bees produce much less
honey when without queen. Some
,lace young queen from the south
n the hive and remove the old one.
t is this latter plan which seems to
commend itself to many successful
lpiartists. The writer is of the con-
fiction that large roomy hives with
'lenty of super space be given and ,
hat swarming should be governed ,