652 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Sept. 



will not smother. When all is ready, their infallible 

 entrance into the hive may be secured by the hoop 

 of the bag being so piacerl that the bees must escape 

 into the hive or not at all. 



FIG. li. W. F. CLAKKE'S SWAHM ING-UEVICE. 



The superiority of this plan over all swarming- 

 boxes, even those with a frame of comb in them, 

 lies in this— that you are not dependent on the will 

 of the bees whether they enter or not. Bees are 

 freaky little creatures. You poke a box among 

 them as the cluster is forming; and if they do not 

 take a notion to enter, you must secure them in 

 some other way. Or if you are too persistent in ob- 

 truding your box upon them they abscond, and so 

 get rid of the annoyance. Or, again, j'ou coax 

 them into your box, and then lose them at the en- 

 trance of the hive. 



1 have tried the method— I do not know whose it 

 is, but I first saw it practiced at Mr. Heddon's— of 

 shaking the cluster into a light box or large tin 

 pan, and instantly covering the bees with a muslin 

 or linen cloth. It is better than some of the modes 

 practiced, hut not wholly satisfactory to mc. You 

 can not always get a good fair shake; and if you 

 do, perhaps fail in getting the cover on properly, or 

 after it is on it is brushed aside while you are climb- 

 ing down from the tree; and, lastly, perhaps there 

 is a miss in getting the queen out of the box or pan 

 into the hive. 



Tt will, perhaps, be said that my device will an- 

 swer very well where the cluster hangs in a nice 

 convenient shape as in the pictures; but when it 



gets among small limbs of trees, and in awkward 

 places, it will not work. To which I reply, that ap- 

 ple trees with properly trimmed open heads and 

 Norway spruces with symmetrical branches, offer 



FIG. 3. MANNER OF CONFINING THE BEES. 



no chance for the tanglingup of swarms we some- 

 times witness. There will be here and there an ex- 

 ceptional case; but an apiary having a right en- 

 vironment, such as described at the outset of this 

 article, will give off swarms that will cluster in a 

 ship-shape form, nearly every time. If we sur- 

 round our bees with high trees, or thickety trees, or 

 plant the apiary where there are no trees at all, we 

 must, of course, take the consequences. Swarms 

 like, above all things, to cluster on trees; and if we 

 provide such as are convenient for ourselves as 

 well as them, they will use them, so reducing our 

 trouble and risk of loss to the minimum point. 



Wm. F. Clarke. 

 Guelph, Ont., Can., July 36, 1887. 



Many thanks, old friend, for having given 

 so much prominence to our swarm-catcher, 

 with your improvements. Perhaps I should 

 remark, that the implement, as we repre- 

 sent it in the A B C book, was invented and 

 used by one of oiu' girls who assisted in the 

 apiary, and who afterward for several years 

 managed qtiite an apiary herself. I believe 

 she used the implement very much as you 

 suggest. The rim around the bag was made 

 of wire. This wire was so springy that, 

 when held upright, it would tip over" by the 

 weight of the bag in pretty nearly a horizon- 

 tal position. She always insisted that it 

 was much more convenient than our swarm- 

 ing-box. I believe a good many, however, 

 rather prefer to lead bees than to drive them ; 

 and my experience with bees shut up in a 

 bag has not been satisfactory. They always 

 behave as if there were a good deal of pro- 

 test al)Out the whole proceeding ; whereas 

 in a swarraing-box, or a half-bushel basket, 

 which I like about as well, they behave as 

 though they were acting according to their 

 own pleasure, and I rather prefer to man- 

 age bees in that way when it can be done. 

 I have often, however, had second and third 

 swarms when T fairlv ;iched to get them in- 



