1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



339 



an attractive clustering-place for issuing swarms. 

 Perhaps nine-tenths of all our swarms that have 

 formed a cluster have clustered in these ten ever- 

 greens. This particular tree is a favorite with 

 the bees, while, with the exception of one after- 

 swarm, no swarm has ever clustered on a willow 

 or on two mountain-ash trees near by. 



The drone-guard at the entrance and the queen- 

 excluder on top of the hive were used on this oc- 

 casion for two reasons: First, we were hiving the 

 swarm in supers filled with empty extracting- 

 frames. Second, we had discovered that the col- 

 ony's three-year-old mother-queen was dead, and 

 that there were several virgin queens with the 

 swarm. These we desired to save, for the colony 

 had not swarmed once during the life of its 

 mother-queen, and each year had surprised us 

 with the rapidity with which it built up in the 

 spring and the rapidity with which its supers 

 were filled during the honey-flow. A very few 

 minutes after the swarm had been shaken, it was 

 possible to pick up and cage, one at a time, the 

 virgin queens as they were vainly trying to enter 

 the hire through the zinc. Four daughters of 

 our choice queen were thus secured. Later the 

 supers containing the swarm were placed on top 

 of the brood-nest on the old stand, and the vir- 

 gin queens, except the one in the brood-nest, 

 were placed in nuclei. 



Duluth, Minn. 



SELF-HIVED SWARMS. 



Some Curious Instances of Bees in the 

 Walls of Buildings. 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



The experience of Mr. Frank C. Pellett, page 

 1.^18, Not. 1, 1908, brings to mind several oc- 

 casions when swarms came to my apiary and took 

 possession of empty hives in which I had noticed 

 bees in greater or less numbers for a week or mora 

 previously. The first case was over thirty years 

 ago, when I had some discarded Harbison hives 

 storad in tke loft of the barn. How the busy lit- 

 tle insects knew the hives were there I do not 

 know, though I suppose they had betn prying 

 about every nook and corner from which the 

 smell of bees, honey, or wax emanated. They 

 must have made their way through a knot-hole 

 or crack in the ordinary rough siding, and taken 

 possession of the hive. I saw them in some of 

 the hives lome days before, but did not think 

 any thing of it at the time, for up to that time I 

 never had any self-hived bees. I bored a few 

 holes on a level where the entrance of the hive 

 would come, and moved the colony up to the 

 wall so the bees could have easy ingress and egress. 

 Tkis colony did well, and remained in the loft 

 until we raised the building to make room for a 

 larger barn. 



In years gone by I have had several swarms 

 take possession of empty bivas containing comb 

 ri{kt in the apiary. In one instance a swarm 

 came to the apiary in February. The hive was 

 a small experimental one made of :? 8 inch lum- 

 ber, and it was set aside to go in the hive bone- 

 yard or wood-pile. One day, about one o'clock, 

 in the spring, a year ago, I happened to be in my 

 workshop when I heard a commotion as of bees 



L r f >.-^ 



A SELF-HIVED SWARM. 



swarming close to the door. Looking ou^ I saw 

 a big swarm taking possession of a ds. ardtd 

 three-quarter Langstroth hive that stood on top 

 of another hive. Having afolding pocket cam :ra 

 handy I sprung it on the lively scene with the re- 

 sult shown in the accompanying half-tone en- 

 graving. Later the bees were shaken into a reg- 

 ular dovetailed Langstroth hive, and they became 

 an industrious colony. 



The cases above referred to are but two of sev- 

 eral that came under my obtervation right in my 

 apiary. There is a large house in our neighbor- 

 hood in which bees repeatedly domiciled them- 

 selves, much to the discomfort of the human in- 

 mates. While the bees found their quarters 

 warm and comfortable, those in the house prob- 

 ably suffered some on cold days because they 

 could not start a fire in the grate. Smoke would 

 not ascend the flue. A bricklayer was called, 

 and dismantled the chimney under difficulty, un- 

 til the colony was reached and removed. 



A small cottagt on a place adjoining ours has 

 been a favorite abode for bees for something over 

 twenty years. The rustic would be removed, 

 the colony destroyed, and the boards replaced. 

 In a year or two another swarm of bees would 

 come and squat on or in the same phce. It 



