THE SWARMING OF BEES 69 



If the bees alight high in a tree, then our methods 

 have been to get at them by climbing the tree, or 

 attaining the branch by the use of a ladder. How- 

 ever, I doubt if there was ever a fruit found on any 

 tree that needs quite so much care in the picking as 

 does this; and it is decidedly a ticklish performance 

 to clamber down a tree holding gingerly a branch 

 laden with a swarm of bees in one hand and clutch- 

 ing at supporting branches with the other. Some- 

 times the bees are not accommodating enough to 

 alight on the end of a branch that may be cut off. 

 They may even go so far as to cluster on the large 

 branch itself; then there is nothing to do but to 

 brush them off in a box with a bee brush, a per- 

 formance which they object to; or to dip them off 

 with a tin dipper, or to jar them into a basket, and 

 then to dump them out in front of the hive. The 

 most embarrassing situation of all is when the swarm 

 clusters on a tree trunk. Squaring the circle is not 

 a much more difficult feat mathematically than to 

 brush all the bees into a square box from this cylin- 

 drical position. It is usually necessary to bring the 

 smoker to help in elucidating this problem; for, 

 paradoxical as it may seem, smoke properly applied 

 clears up many a situation in the bee business. 



If only one were able to find the queen in the clus- 

 tering swarm and secure her by placing her in the 

 hive, the work would be easy, for the other bees 

 would soon follow. But to hunt for the queen in 

 the clustering swarm is, for most of us, quite like 

 hunting for the traditional needle in the haystack; 



