AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



225 



3 miles away) to hive a swarm of bees. 

 He said he had found them in the timber 

 hanging to a limb the Christmas before, 

 and had not been bacl< to loolf after 

 them until that morning. 



So the next day I put a hive in the 

 wagon and drove down to Mr. Crosby's. 

 When I got there, Mr. J. E. Jackson, an 

 old bee-keeper, was there, and we all 

 started for the timber. About half a 

 mile from the house we came to the bees, 

 whfch were about 20 feet from the 

 ground, on an elm tree about 16 inches 

 in diameter at the base. We cut the 

 tree down so that the limb the bees were 

 on would be up. It fell all right, and 

 did not jar the bees or comb loose. 

 "I cut the comb, and filled 5 frames 

 with brood and honey, and had about 

 20 pounds of nice honey to take to the 

 house. They had built their comb over 

 2 feet along under the limb, and it was 

 about 14 inches wide in the widest 

 place. The limb was about 6 inches in 

 diameter, and the bees were about 5 

 feet from the body of the main tree. 



I got the bees into the hive, and left 

 the hive on some sticks about 4 inches 

 from the ground. I told the boy that he 

 must take them to the house that, night, 

 but he left them where they were, as he 

 was afraid of the " busy end " of a bee. 

 I saw the boy about two months later, 

 and he said they had filled the hive, and 

 had built the comb on below the frames, 

 and had the hive and sticks all fastened 

 together. I did not take any bottom- 

 board with the hive, as I expected them 

 to carry it home and place it on a board. 



Now these are facts, as Mr. J. W. 

 Crosby and Mr. J. E. Jackson will 

 testify. 



Tecumseh, Okla. Ter., Jan. 25, 1892. 



Bees Mm Out Scouts lefore Locating 



MRS. W. 6. TITTSWORTH. 



I just want to add my mite on bees 

 finding a home before swarming. My 

 husband made a squirrel box to hang up 

 in a tree to entice the sqairrels to live 

 in the yard around the house. The box 

 was made out of 2x8 inch plank, about 

 3 or 4 feet <long, with an upper and 

 lower story, and a 3-inch hole near the 

 top, and another near the bottom. He 

 put coarse sawdust in for a bed, and 

 fastened the box up in a tree about 30 

 or 40 ft. from the ground. We put some 

 squiri'els into it, and they became great 

 pets. 



The box was over our path in going to 



and from the apiary, and ©ne evening 

 Mr. T. noticed the bees flying in and out 

 of both holes of that box, and the squir- 

 rels had taken French leave. He called 

 my attention to it, so we concluded there 

 was a swa.rm of bees in the box. 



We began to plan the best way to get 

 them out, and save the swarm. Then 

 we noticed they acted very queerly. We 

 got a ladder and made an examination, 

 and found there was no swarm, only 

 bees trying to clean out that coarse saw- 

 dust, and they were black bees, while 

 ours were yellow. 



We had read about bees sending out 

 scouts before swarming, so we watched 

 for results. They cleaned away for 3 

 or 4 days, then it rained, and for about 

 a week or so we saw no more bees 

 around the box. 



All at once we noticed bees there 

 again, cleaning out sawdust — I should 

 judge there was about 100 bees, and 

 they cleaned away for about 3 or 4 

 days ; so one morning our boy that was 

 watching for swarms, gave the usual 

 call, "Swarm! Swarm!" We rushed 

 out, and found a swarm trying to settle 

 on that box ; and they did settle, and 

 went in. They were black bees. 



We took down the box and smoked 

 them to get them out into a hive already 

 prepared for them, and while we were 

 at work a shower came up, and they all 

 took wing and alighted on another hive 

 that was already occupied with bees. 

 The yellow bees did not leave a black 

 bee to tell where they came from. They 

 had a virgin queen, while the bees in 

 the hive had a laying one. 



We hung the box back again in the 

 same place, but did not see a bee there 

 again that Summer. We have a neigh- 

 bor living about 2 miles from us that 

 has bees, and he lost a swarm that day 

 about the time mentioned, and they were 

 coming in our direction the last he saw 

 of them, and when the boy saw them 

 first they were coming from the neigh- 

 bor's direction. 



Avoca, Iowa. 



Top-Bars, Self-Spacing Frames, Etc. 



G. P. MORTON. 



When I got the Simplicity hive four 

 years ago, with its wide frames to hold 

 sections, and thin, narrow top-bars on 

 the brood-frames, and wide spacing, the 

 first thing I learned to do was not to like 

 them. The next thing I did, was to 

 take out these defects, and put improve- 



