The Busy Bee. 



207 



But the cleverest trick of all is one that an old clergy- 

 man in the State of Wyoming invented. Along about 

 the time his stocks began to get the fidgets he would pick 

 up dead bees and string them as one strings worms for 

 eel-bobs. When he got a bunch about as big as a hen- 

 egg, he left a few strands hanging loose and fastened it 

 up in a conspicuous place. When a swarm came boiling 

 out it would " follow the crowd," as it thought, alight on 

 this " bee-bob," and' he would gather them in before they 

 got off the premises. 



Bees swarm when they think there is enough brood 

 coming on to populate the hive after they leave. In the 

 old straw skep that artists will draw you for a hive, 

 though they never 

 saw one in their 

 lives, broodcomb 

 and h o n e y c o m b 

 were all in the one 

 inclosure, and the 

 bees had to be mur- 

 d e r e d or smoked 

 out before the honey 

 could be got. But 

 nowadays there is 

 an upstairs to the 

 hive, where the bee- 

 master puts the 

 comb as fast as it is 



made. The queen never goes up there to lay eggs, and 

 the bees stock the frames with honey. The bee-master 

 sees to it that the brood is kept up, for in the busy season 

 workers are old and worn out in six weeks, and they have 

 many foes. 



If he robs them, he also feeds them. When there is 



Fig. 42. How to clip a queen's wings with a 

 dull pocket-knife. 



