With the general adoption of comb honey in sections, the tendency was more and more toward small hives in order to force the bees to work in the small spaces furnished by the sections. This very naturally led to the complications discussed in connection with the controversy over the size of hives. Swarm control became a major problem, and innumerable articles were printed concerning it.

One piece sections have been widely used since 1878.

In this connection G. W. Demaree, of Christiansburg, Kentucky, came into the limelight.

He wrote a paper for the Ohio Beekeepers' Convention entitled "How to Prevent Swarming. " This was published in the American Bee Journal, April 21, 1892. Readers of the article hardly could have realized the extent to which it was destined to affect beekeeping practice for a generation.

Demaree proposed to transfer the combs containing brood from the brood chamber to an upper story above a queen excluder. One comb containing unsealed brood and eggs was left below with the queen, and the balance of the space filled with empty combs to provide ample space for egg-laying and relieve the congestion of the brood nest.

The Demaree plan of swarm control became very general among the small hive beekeepers of the nation. In effect they had adopted a large hive by using a double brood chamber and, in addition, they were required to expend much labor in effecting the necessary manipulation to keep down swarming. It was the start back toward sanity in beekeeping, since it did away with the single small hive body, which then commonly served as a brood chamber. Although many years were needed to complete the process, the natural evolution of beekeeping practice gradually effected the change to a permanent use of two bodies instead of one for brood rearing.

Although the Demaree plan of swarm control could be used with profit in the hands of the capable apiarist, in too many cases much damage resulted from manipulating the colony at the wrong time. Too often the queen was placed below too early in the season, with the result that a spell of cold weather caused the bees to cluster above the excluder, leaving the queen and her newly laid eggs below without sufficient attention.

The Demaree plan was much in vogue during the transition period, and through it Demaree became very well known to American beekeepers.