. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. February 1, 1879.] THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 201 should be united according to the directions given on p. 18o for uniting stocks, bearing in mind that they should already be near each other; and when the bees have mingled peacefully, the brood comb of both should, if possible, be crowded into one hive, to be the lower, and the remainder into the upper hive, after the honey has been extracted from them. One of the queens should be captured, ns fertile queens are often of value, and the whole of the bees should then be allowed to take posses-
. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. February 1, 1879.] THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 201 should be united according to the directions given on p. 18o for uniting stocks, bearing in mind that they should already be near each other; and when the bees have mingled peacefully, the brood comb of both should, if possible, be crowded into one hive, to be the lower, and the remainder into the upper hive, after the honey has been extracted from them. One of the queens should be captured, ns fertile queens are often of value, and the whole of the bees should then be allowed to take posses- sion of their joint home. Thus there will be one hive cram-full of brood with already a double and increasing population, and there will be a large set of empty combs in the upper story—in the right place for storage, be it remembered, and with the honey-harvest at hand; and if honey does not come in at the rate of ten pounds at least per diem, it will not be the fault of the bees or the system. It must, however, not be forgotten that the average life of a bee during summer does not extend beyond six weeks, and therefore, as in this double stock, there will be only one laying queen; the population, after about three weeks will gradually decline, a fact which indicates that judgment is required in respect of the ' doubling.' Filling one well-populated hive with the fully-sealed brood-combs of two or more for the sake of obtaining huge store-supers is an old dodge, the already strong population being quickly reinforced by the rapidly hatching brood, which, as before stated, was supposed to be 'sealed' when placed in the hive. Stocks doubled in the spring will not be so strong in the autumn as to per- mit of their division (multiplication it is usually called), as through the dwindling hinted at, the stock will be no stronger in bees than any other ordinarily good stock, and therefore an apiary conducted solely on the doubling principle would soon be reduced by inverted multipl
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