1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



337 



GUMBERT S APPARATUS FOR HIVING SWARMS WITHOUT CLIMBING TRtES. 



HIVING SWARMS. 



How to Avoid Climbing Trees. 



BY M. GUMBERT. 



If I am on hand when a swarm issues I place a 

 queen-trap on the hive and catch the queen; re- 

 move the parent colony and place an empty hive 

 in place of the old one, and put the trap with the 

 queen on front of the empty HiTe. The bees 

 miss the queen and return to the old stand, and 

 the work is done. I can leave the swarm there 

 or move it to another location. If it is a prime 

 swarm, I always put a drone-guard over the en- 

 trance to the hive to keep the beei from abscond- 

 ing, leaving it on three or four days, or until 

 they start to work. If I fail to catch the queen, 

 and the swarm settles on a tree, I hive the bees 

 with what I call a bee-ladder. This ladder it 18 

 feet high. It rests on a plank 8 feet long, and is 

 firmly braced by a pole with wire loop at the 

 lower end, through which to drive a stake. In- 

 side this ladder are grooves, and a frame is made 

 to slide up and down easily. A rope fastened to 

 this fram« goes up over a pullty at the top, and 

 down again where it is fastened to the ladder be- 

 low. When a swarm settles I set the ladder up 

 just beneath it; place a hivt on the frame, and 

 draw it up to the swarm and fasten it there. I 

 shake a few bees off in front of the hive with a 

 pole so that they start going in and keep on, then 

 shaking them off until they are all off the limb. 

 I then let the hive down slowly by means of the 

 rope, and drive all the bees in. 



This ladder is very easily Ut down and moved 

 to anothtr location. Sometimes when I see 

 where a swarm is going to settle I get the ladder 



there in place, and every thing ready before the 

 bees are all clustered. Sometimes another swarm 

 will come and settle in the tame place before the 

 first ones are all in the hive. I then carry it 

 away, when I am ready for the next one. I have 

 used this plan for fifteen or twenty years. 



In hiving after- swarms I always give a comb of 

 unsealed brood instead of a drone-guard. This 

 plan will be of little benefit to experienced bee- 

 keepers, but it is very convenient for beginners 

 and for any persons keeping a few bees. 



Ohl, Pa., March 17. 



[It is desirable to have an apiary located where 

 there are low trees or plenty of shrubbery. 

 Where this is the case a swarm can usually be 

 taken without any ladder-climbing. — Ed.] 



EVERGREEN TREES PLANTED TO 



AFFORD A CLUSTERING-PLACE 



FOR SWARMS. 



How to Catch Virgin Queens by Means 

 of Perforated Zinc. 



BY E. L. KIMBALL. 



The enclosed views were taken at J. Kimball's 

 apiary — Ozonic Ridge apiary, as we call it — lo- 

 cated five miles from Duluth, Minn. Fig. 1 

 shows a swarm in a small spruce-tree, and the 

 hive prepared to receive it. Fig. 2 is a view of 

 the same taken immediately after the swarm had 

 been shaken from the tree. The tree is the larg- 

 est of ten small evergreens — balsam, spruce, and 

 pine — that my father planted within a few rods 

 of the apiarj for the express purpose of affording 



