No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



373 



■•^y 



\ 



J 



It is easier to foretell the issuing of after-swarms. About eight 

 days after the first swarm issuee, you may expect a second swarm, 



providing there are to 

 be any after-swarms. 

 Go to the hive the even 

 ing before the day you 

 are expecting an after- 

 swarm, put your ear 

 against the hive, and if 

 there is to be further 

 swarming the next day 

 you will hear piping 

 and quahking. The 

 young queen that \k, out 

 of her cell utters a 

 shrill succession of 

 sounds, that sound 

 something like "peep, 

 peep, peep." The young 

 queens yet in their 

 cells answer very 

 promptly, '■ q u ? h k 

 quahk, quahk." in a 

 coarser tone, and this 

 piping and quahking 

 is repeated at inter- 

 vals. 



If there i;? any 

 swarming after the sec- 

 ond swarm, the sw'arms will be only a day or two apart. These later 

 swarms are likely to be very feeble affairs, sometimes hardly more 

 than a teacupful of bees with the young queen. Such w'eaklings are 

 only a nuisance, as it is hardly possible for them to survive the fol- 

 lowing winter. 



J 



QUEEN CELLS. 



(By permisf-ion from Roots A B C of Bee Culture.) 



HIVING A SWAKM. 



When a swarm issues from the hive and begins to sail aloft, there 

 is sometimes a fear that it will immediately take its departui-e, 

 and horns are blown, tin pans rattled, guns fired, etc., and then 

 the swarm settles on some bush or tree. But it would settle just 

 as well without any such racket. It is just possible that an after- 

 swarm might go off without clustering first on some tree, but you 

 need have no anxiety about a first swarm. Just let it take its time 

 to settle; then you can proceed deliberately to house it in the hive 

 prepared for it. You may cut off the small branch upon which it 



