538 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ISTov. 



hive. Some one may ask, What about swarms that 

 happen to alight on large limbs or bodies of trees? 

 They never alight there. In my apiary I have some 

 light poles with a bunch of straw tied tightly to the 

 end of them. If I see they are inclined to alight in 

 any place not easy to hive, I place it there, and they 

 soon all leave for other quarters. Many limes they 

 alight in some of the hivcrs which stand leaning 

 against the trees. 



So much for the hiver. But my article is too long. 

 I will just say, I never have swarms run away to the 

 woods. I may tell you, before swarming-time comes 

 again, how I prevent that, for my bees try hard to 

 get away sometimes. N. N. Shepard. 



Cochrahton, Pa., Oct. 3, 1883. 



TAKING THE NONSENSE OUT OF 'EOT. 



ANOTHER OF FRIEND HASTY'S NOVEL INVENTIONS. 



fjjHE great mass of the fraternity will not appre- 

 ciate this article, I imagine; they seldom have 

 tnofe swarms than they want; and if per- 

 chance they do, it sulHces with their bees to cut out 

 the queen-cells, and return the swarm immediately 

 to the old hive. I think, however, that there are 

 many here and there who have been greatly tried 

 by the evil of excessive swarming— who have seen 

 stand after stand cut short for the season from Stor- 

 ing, and their own time almost wholly taken up in a 

 vain struggle to regulate matters, until almost driv- 

 en to just " shriek," as Freedom did when Kosciusko 

 fell. This smaller company will probably feel a keen 

 interest in the simple method herein described. 



The old way of controlling increase is very good 

 as long as it works; but in the hour of your direst 

 need it won't work. The swarm you return to-day 

 comes out to-morrow, and so on until it succeeds iu 

 getting away from you. As the moderate amount 

 ofjsealed brood in the hive is rapidly cutting out, 

 they can come out stronger each time you fail in 

 making them stay, and leave the old hive more and 

 more enfeebled. The flnality of the struggle is likely 

 to be a big colony off in the woods, and an old hive 

 not only very weak but queenUss also. 



Well, it was friend Martin who touched off the 

 idea, in one of his Exchange articles, some time ago. 

 He told of a neighbor of his who cured swarms that 

 deserted the hives they were hived in by hanging 

 them up in his cellar for a couple of days. I think 

 he owes it to us to give the name of this ingenious 

 neighbor. I said to myself at once, " Why will not 

 the same treatment make a swarm stay when re- 

 turned to the old stand? " I can now answer from 

 experience that it will, with almost absolute certain- 

 ty. Of course, it Is not convenient for the most of 

 us to use the cellar as a swarm penitentiary; and 

 the possibility of having 20,000 bees go on a rampage 

 in one's nether apartments is not altogether pleas- 

 ant. I laid a plan to sink some large boxes in the 

 ground for this purpose, fitting covers to them over 

 which earth might be shoveled. Time passed on, 

 and I didn't get the boxes ready— glad now I didn't, 

 for swarms move about in the pit sometimes, and 

 would attach themselves to permanent woodwork so 

 as to make some trouble to get them out. At the 

 last moment, when something had to be done, I hit 

 upon a still simpler method. 



Take two pieces of scantling three feet long and 

 nail upon them boards two and a half feet long, thus 



making a rude cover 2^x3 feet. I used second-hand 

 boards and the debris of an old picket fence. Next, 

 in a suitable shady place dig a hole in the ground 

 two feet square and two feet deep. When the cover 

 is laid over the hole and the loose earth put on 

 top of it you have a pit that is cool, dark, and per- 

 fectly secure. No arrangements for ventilation are 

 needed, as the air that percolates through the soil 

 is sulHcient. The pits can be used all summer with- 

 out caving in, and the soil at my apiary is quite 

 sandy and loose. Take down your swarm in a five- 

 cent basket; the most elaborate swarm-box is hard- 

 ly one whit better. (We owe the editor of Glean- 

 ings thanks for this suggestion.) I can't go over 

 the whole wide subject of taking swarms in this ar- 

 ticle—it's all in knowing how to do it. For the pres- 

 ent purpose we want the basket modified just a lit- 

 tle. Place four bits of lath ten inches long against 

 the corners of the basket, and drive a few tacks 

 through from the inside. This makes a basket with 

 short legs to it; and after the swarm is taken down 

 it can be set anywhere without hurting a bee. Take 

 swarm in basket, set basket in the hole, lay on cov- 

 er, shovel on earth; two days later, at nightfall, 

 shovel off earth, lift cover, carry basket and swarm 

 to old hive, and riin them in. No particular need to 

 stop and fuss with them; dump them down, and 

 they will get in, in the course of the nighv. The 

 queen sometimes shows a curious determination to 

 run anywhere and everywhere rather than into the 

 entrance, but she will come to it when the bees have 

 all gone in. If she refused it would be just as well, 

 as there is one queen within already. If it is desir- 

 able to cut off the branch and swarm rather than 

 to use a basket, lay a small box in the hole, open side 

 up, and lay the branch and swarm across it. Before 

 returning the swarm I usually look over the combs 

 to destroy any queen-cells that may remain, but 

 sometimes omit that part of it. The rationale of the 

 process is, that the bees are so exceedingly glad of a 

 home and liberty and daylight that they won't listen 

 to any more talk about picnicking in the tree-tops. 

 As stated last month I treated 04 after-swarms in 

 this manner, and only 2 came out. One of these was 

 made to stay by a second burial, and one beat me by 

 entering another hive. 



I think it unnatural and unwise to try to return a 

 prime swarm to the old hive when they have left it 

 full of sealed brood; but repeaters with a fertile 

 queen will sometimes issue when the hive is hardly 

 half full of comb. I buried and returned two such 

 this season with success. Neither of them remained 

 quiet all summer, however; one swarmed again in 

 15 days, and one in 31 days. One prime swarm which 

 was not a repeater, but quite small, and the hive 

 from which it came not crowded, I buried and re- 

 turned successfully. This hive swarmed again 14 

 days after. I think I was under the impression at 

 the time that it was an after-swarm; at any rate I 

 buried and returned them, and they stayed the re- 

 mainder of the season. 



Deserters, for whose benefit the penitentiary plan 

 was originally devised, I had but little chance to ex- 

 periment with. I think I disciplined one such colony 

 successfully, but I do not find a record of it. I cer- 

 tainly treated one unsuccessfully. They went to 

 the woods after being buried. Burial won't make 

 queenless swarms stay unless you give them a frame 

 of brood. I had one failure of this kind. I was in 

 such a confused state of mind that I did not think of 

 the brood. 



