1879 



G LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



93 



we almost always have more or less swarm- 

 ing going on during our national holiday. 

 At this time, basswood is generally at its 

 height, and we frequently have quite a yield 

 from clover, after basswood is gone. On 

 this account, swarms that come out during 

 the first week in July, usually get enough to 

 wilder, and are therefore worth the price of 

 a swarm of bees anyway. 1 presume the old 

 adage referred, principally, to the amount of 

 honey they would store ; if the July swarms 

 did not secure enough to winter over, and 

 were allowed to starve, they would not be 

 worth the trouble of hiving them, and so 

 they might be rated as of less value than a 

 fly. Swarms that come out in June, would 

 till their hives, and perhaps make a surplus 

 that, on an average, would bring at least a 

 dollar, the old price of a silver spoon ; while 

 those that were so thrifty as to be able to 

 start in May. would have the whole season 

 before them, and if they did not get setback 

 before white clover came out, would very 

 likely make a surplus worth $5.00, the mar- 

 ket price of a load of hay. In some locali- 

 ties, bees seem to swarm in the latter part of 

 July and Aug., and reports seem to indicate 

 that they do it when little or no honey is to 

 be had, and when the bees are disposed to 

 rob; but such is certainly not the case here, 

 for our bees give up all preparations for 

 swarming, some little time before the honey 

 crop has ceased. I do not remember ever to 

 have seen a natural swarm issue here later 

 than July, but in some localities, buckwheat 

 swarms are a very common thing. "Where 

 the apiarist has plenty of extra combs tilled 

 with stores, it is an easy matter to care for 

 and make valuable stocks of swarms that is- 

 sue at any time. 



SYMPTOMS OF SWARMING. 



Although we can sometimes tell when 

 bees are going to swarm, I do not think it 

 will be safe, by any means, to assume that 

 we can always do so. It has been said that 

 the bees which have been clustering outside 

 will, all the morning of the day they are in- 

 tending to swarm, go inside the hive ; but 

 this cannot always be SO, for I have seen a 

 swarm issue while the loafers were hanging 

 on the outside as usual, and at the sound of 

 the swarming note, they took wing and join- 

 ed in. Where a colony is intending to swarm, 

 they will not be working like the rest, as a 

 general thing, and quite likely, on the day 

 they are intending to swarm, very few bees, 

 comparatively, will be seen going out and in 

 at the hive. With movable combs, we can 

 generally give a very good guess of the dis- 



position to swarm, by opening the hive. 

 Bees do not, as a rule, swarm until they have 

 got their hive pretty well tilled up, and have 

 multitudes of young bees hatching out daily. 

 The presence of queen cells is generally con- 

 sidered an indication of the swarming fever, 

 and it used to be supposed that there was no 

 danger of swarming unless these were pre- 

 ent in the hive ; but since so many stocks of 

 Italians have swarmed when nothing in the 

 shape of a queen cell was to be found in the 

 hive, the idea of removing queen cells, to 

 arrest or prevent swarming, has been to a 

 great extent abandoned. 



Many think that the clustering of the bees 

 on the outside of the hives is an indication 

 that they are going to swarm. To a certain 

 extent this may be the case, but it is by no 

 means an indication that they are going to 

 swarm very soon. I knew a colony, belong- 

 ing to a neighbor, that hung out in great 

 masses nearly a month, before the bees came 

 out. His new hive was in readiness, and he 

 staid at home and watched day after day, 

 until clover and basswood both were almost 

 gone, and finally they cast a truly large, tine 

 swarm. 



NEVEI! ALLOW HICKS TO HANG OUTSIDE THE 

 HIVE. 



This swarm had hung outside the lave 

 during the great honey harvest of the sea- 

 son, and as it is no unusual thing for a colo- 

 ny to store 10 lbs. a day, during the height 

 of the season, they had lost at least 100 lbs. 

 of honey, for the swarm was an unusually 

 strong and tine one. I think they co\ild eas- 

 ily have secured this amount if they had 

 worked, but it is by no means certain that 

 they could have been made to go to work. 

 as they did after they swarmed, and were 

 put into a new hive. Within two or three 

 weeks after they swarmed, if I remember, 

 they tilled their hive, and gave about 25 lbs. 

 of surplus. How shall we deal with such 

 bees? Well, it will be an excellent problem 

 for our A B C class to work out by actual 

 practice. One way is to put section boxes 

 on the top and sides, and then drive the bees 

 inside with your smoker, and thus make 

 them go to work, if you can. If they will 

 not do so, get from some other hive some 

 ] sections partly tilled, and this will generally 

 ' accomplish the object. If the bees are in a 

 box hive, and you cannot at the time trans- 

 fer them (it is rather unsafe to transfer dur- 

 ing a great honey yield, with the hive full of 

 i honey, you know), fix a new hive all right, 

 I move away your old box hive, brushing all 

 I the bees off on the ground, and then give 



