1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



567 



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HARVESTING THE CROP AND CRATING IT UP READY TO BE SHIPPED TO NORTHERN CITIES. 



SEE PAGE 511, LAST ISSUE. 



have put on their robes of green, all look 

 alike at even a few rods. 



To be contimied. 



SWARMING. 



Some Instances to Show that Bees Often 



[Select a New Location Before Leaving 



the Hive. 



BY L. B. SMITH. 



We have had it proven to our own satis- 

 faction many times that bees often select a 

 location before swarming. Away back in 

 the 80's, we were in the woods and saw bees 

 going in and out of a knot-hole some 15 feet 

 up in a tree. My first thought was that I had 

 found a bee-tree. After observing more 

 closely I discovered that it was only bees out 

 selecting a place for their future home, for 

 there were more or less bees around all the 

 trees near that showed any signs of being 

 hollow. From their actions it was easy to 

 see they were searching for a cavity for their 

 future home. I watched them with much in- 

 terest for several hours toward the middle 

 of the day; but they seemed to pay little at- 

 tention to any of the trees except the first 

 one mentioned. Around this they greatly 

 increased in numbers until it almost seemed 

 as if a small swarm were in and around this 

 tree. During^the time, I went to the house 



and told my wife to keep a close watch on a 

 certain colony I knew was preparing to 

 swarm. I was sure they were my bees that 

 were so busily engaged at this tree. Pretty 

 soon I heard my wife calling, "The bees are 

 swarming 1" I noticed, however, the bees 

 about the tree had become very much less in 

 numbers. A very few were to be seen at the 

 tree just then. 



I hastened to the house to watch the swarm 

 to see what the result would be. They were 

 pretty well out of the hive when I reached 

 the house, and had started to cluster. Not 

 over two-thirds of the swarm ever clustered 

 at all when they broke cluster and made a 

 direct line for the tree where I had been 

 watching them for hours, and went directly 

 into it. 



At another time a neighbor called on me, 

 saying he had found a bee-tree, and wanted 

 to save the bees. They were working strong, 

 as he thought. After a good many hard 

 blows with his ax he felled the tree, and, to 

 his utter astonishment, no bees were in it, 

 and no signs of comb or any thing that 

 showed that bees had ever occupied the tree. 

 Before long he saw a big negro coming on a 

 dead run through the brush, rattling a bell 

 for all it was worth; and about the same 

 time, he heard the roaring of a swarm of 

 bees, and very soon they were hovering about 

 the spot where the tree had stood. After 

 circling around for a short time the bees 



