1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



603 



swarm in the air, nearest to me. Those 

 bees receiving the spray began to retreat 

 very perceptibly. I followed up my advan- 

 tage until I had them driven quite a little 

 distance away. The other swarm, in the 

 meantime, was coming up. I began dousing 

 them in a similar manner, and soon had the 

 satisfaction of seeing them retreat. Each 

 was then sprayed, when they were hived, 

 as before explained. 



Last Sunday, the 7th, before I had a 

 chance to get my breakfast, a swarm was 

 out. Before I had got them fairly hived, 

 another swarm came out. I was about to 

 hive these, when Mr. Calvert (my brother- 

 in-law) came to spell me. It hadbeen pre- 

 viously arranged that I was to take care of 

 the bees in the forenoon, and our Mr. Spaf- 

 ford in the afternoon. Some three or four 

 swarms had come out during the morning. 

 After breakfast I relieved Mr. Calvert, and, 

 with lesson-helps in hand, I perched myself 

 under the shady veranda of the house-apia- 

 ry, in full view of every colony in the yard. 

 As I studied about Samuel, my eyes now 

 and then took in a survey of the apiary. 

 Fortunately the bees behaved themselves 

 for a full hour. When church was out, Mr. 

 Spafford relieved me. On returning from 

 Sunday-school we found some swarms had 

 come out, and that one was already in the 

 air. This one seemed determined to alight 

 upon the top of an evergreen -tree. Now, 

 none of us relished the idea of climbing this 

 tree, with our nice Sunday clothes on. Ac- 

 cordingly, I removed the spray nozzle of the 

 Whitman fountain pump, and screwed on 

 the stream nozzle. Although the bees had 

 formed quite a little cluster, I felt pretty 

 sure that I could dislodge them. I began 

 to shoot a solid jet of water directly at them. 

 This had the effect of stopping the bees 

 from clustering there any further, as well 

 as having the other effect of dislodging 

 some of those that were already on. I could 

 not dislodge the latter entirely, and left 

 them, as 1 noticed that the rest of the 

 swarm seemed to think this was not a desir- 

 able place, dripping as it was with great 

 drops of water. They started to cluster up- 

 on another spot, not exactly an accessi- 

 ble one. The stream nozzle was directed at 

 them as before. Again they took another 

 position, and very soon we had a nice cone 

 of bees hanging where we could reach them 

 easily with the Manum swarming-basket. 

 After about half the bees had settled, the 

 cluster was jarred into the basket, which 

 was then closed. The tripod was then ad- 

 justed, and soon we had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the swarm hanging right from the 

 swarming-basket instead of from the top of 

 the evergreen. 



Besides the facility with which a swarm 

 may be induced to settle by the use of the 

 fountain-pump, and besides the other ad- 

 vantage of dislodging them from an almost 

 inaccessible position, it may be used to very 

 good advantage in preventing bees from 

 clustering upon their former point of at- 

 tachment ; that is. the place where they had 

 previously been clustering. After shaking 

 the bees into the Manum basket, there is al- 

 ways about half of the bees that persist in 



clinging to the old limb. I found that, by 

 dousing it thoroughly with water, the bees 

 will let it alone entirely, and soon cluster on 

 the basket, just where they are wanted. 



DRIVING A SWARM IN THE AIR LIKE A 

 FLOCK OF SHEEP. 



The feature of being able to drive a swarm 

 like a flock of sheep is a valuable one. Some 

 of you may doubt this ; but I assure you I 

 have been successful thus far in driving and 

 cornering up whatever swarm I experiment- 

 ed upon. This morning a swarm of some 

 eight or ten pounds of bees was making 

 straight for a hickory-tree on the outside of 

 the apiary. This tree is some forty or fifty 

 feet tall. I hallooed to Fred, a new hand in 

 the business, to run around them and head 

 them off with the fountain pump. He did 

 so, and it made me feel— well, real good to 

 see them halt, then retreat before the spray 

 and finally settle where we wanted them to. 

 Another swarm started to leave the premis- 

 es, evidently with the full determination of 

 making straight for the woods. The foun- 

 tain pump was on hand, and, as before, we 

 made those truant bees turn right about 

 face, and finally to settle down upon a low 

 grapevine. Perhaps I should state right 

 here, that two or three days before we com- 

 menced using the fountain pump, we had 

 one swarm that actually absconded. One 

 of our boys chased after them until he came 

 to some swampy land, when he had to stop 

 and see them go off. 



The timely and skillful use of the foun- 

 tain pump, I think, would keep almost all 

 the swarms from going outside of the prem- 

 ises of the apiarist. All he has to do is to 

 head them off, and keep spraying them un- 

 til they conclude they will have to settle. 

 The effect of the spraying not only impedes 

 the flight of the bees by dampening their 

 wings, but it may have the effect of making 

 them think that it is raining, and that they 

 had better put aside their purpose. After 

 spraying the bees for some time, I have seen 

 them become so tired, evidently, that they 

 would drop down from exhaustion. With 

 their fore legs they would rub their eyes ; 

 with their middle legs they would rub the 

 thorax, and with their hind legs they would 

 dry their wings. It is a little amusing to 

 see them brush themselves up after a good 

 dousing. 



Sometimes it is not advisable to use a 

 fountain pump. Just as soon as a few bees 

 show a disposition to cluster upon any par- 

 ticular place, we cease from forcing water 

 upon them, unless, perchance, some other 

 bees are trying to establish another location 

 for a cluster more inaccessible. Again, 

 with a very strong swarm I find that it takes 

 a very large amount of spraying to have any 

 effect upon them. 



THE SMITH PUMP NOT SUITABLE. 



I have tried our cheap dollar pump, but it 

 won't answer at all for spraying swarms, al- 

 though it will do very well for garden pur- 

 poses. 



THE FOUNTAIN PUMP, AND CLIPPING 

 QUEENS' winos. 

 The use of the fountain pump might be 



