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general good ; but the idea that bees 

 can be prohibited from entering within 

 corporation limits, by ordinance, is too 

 ridiculous for serious consideration ; 

 because they could be placed just out- 

 side the limits, and as they do not ap- 

 pear to respect an ordinance of the 

 City Fathers, nor a barb-wire fence, 

 the annoyance from an occasional in- 

 truding bee. would not be removed. 



But town counsels — ignorant some- 

 times of matters pressed upon their 

 attention by interested and unscrupu- 

 lous persons — do some verj' unwise, as 

 well as unlawful, acts ; hence the need 

 of just such a precedent as this case 

 will furnish for the protection of bee- 

 keepers in the future. 



Had it not been for the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, that furnished the 

 " sinews of war," this case might have 

 gone against us by default. 



A case so wisely managed, and so 

 si'ccessfully teiminated, ought to in- 

 spire confidence enough in the Union, 

 that its treasury shall never lack " the 

 needful" to defend everj' worthy case. 



Forest City, Iowa. 



SWARMING. 



Some Experiences witli Bees in 

 Swarming Time. 



Written for the Praii-ie Farmer 



BV MRS. L. HAKRISON. 



"Mi-s. Harrison, why do you put 

 that little tea-strainer in your pocket ?" 



O ! this is not a tea-strainer, but a 

 queen-cage, and it is very handy, just 

 now. Yesterday I caught four queens 

 out of six swarms, and it saved a deal 

 of work. I put this little cage over a 

 queen, and set it down on the top of a 

 hive, anywliere, until I was ready for 

 it. I then moved the hive from which 

 the swarm issued, and put the new 

 hive in its place, with the caged queen 

 at the entrance. 



As soon as she is missed, the bees 

 return, and when they are quiet, I re- 

 lease her. Once I released her too 

 aoon, and she flew away, the bees fol- 

 lowing her. Again, as I released her, 

 she flew, but immediately returned. 

 Perhaps, if the swarm had not been 

 placed upon the old stand, she might 

 not have returned. I had four queens 

 caged at one time, the other daj-. I 

 take no further care of a swarm when 

 I have the queen caged, and a hive 

 pre])ared for their return. 



One time, I " got left," as the chil- 

 dren say. I caged a queen, and moved 

 the old hive, placing a new one on its 

 old stand, with the queen at the en- 

 trance. There was another swarm in 

 the air at the same time, and they 

 united. They often do this, when the 



qneen accompanies them, and one will 

 be destroj'ed. I then returned the old 

 hive to its old stand, and gave the 

 queen to them. 



Bees will accept any queen when 

 tliey swarm, but 1 noticed lately one 

 balled, where two colonies had united. 

 I had one of the queens caged, and 

 when I saw this cue balled, I put her 

 in a cage, and left her in front of the 

 hive among the bees for several hours. 

 As the bees remained and united 

 peaceably, I smoked them, and let the 

 queen run in at the entrance, when she 

 was well received. 



Sometimes united swarms will leave 

 the hives after remaining together over 

 night, and return to their old home. 

 Two swarms recently clustered to- 

 gether on a peach tree ; the weight of 

 the peaches and bees was too much for 

 the limb, and down it came. I had 

 placed a hive under whei'e they clus- 

 tered, and one remained and entered 

 the hive, while the other returned 

 home in disgust. 



One swarm came out and returned 

 for three consecutive days, and, as this 

 was getting to be rather monotonous, 

 after they returned the third time, I 

 took the swarming business into my 

 own hands. I removed the old hive 

 and placed a new one in its place. 

 Then I removed a frame from the old 

 hive, containing a mature queen-cell, 

 to the new hive. All the lield-bees re- 

 turned to the old stand, and I shook the 

 bees from the combs of the old hive in 

 front of the new one. I did not see 

 the queen, and do not know which hive 

 had her, but it makes little difference, 

 as both had mature queen-cells. 



One day last week two swarms is- 

 sued at the same time and united. 

 Before they were fairly hived, out 

 came a third. I moved the hive imme- 

 diately to where it was to stand, and 

 spread my apron over the entrance. 

 On came the third swarm and clus- 

 tered upon the sides and back of the 

 hive, until they were two inches deep ; 

 how to get them off and not have them 

 mix with the first swarms, as their 

 hive was then full to overflowing, was 

 the question. 



I lifted the hive with its adhering 

 bees from the stand and placed a hive 

 where it stood, and drove them oft" the 

 sides of the hive. Then I carried the 

 united swarm to a new stand, and all 

 was lovely. As the united swarm was 

 too large for the body of the hive, I 

 put on a case of sections, and drove the 

 bees in from the portico. 



When bees leave a hive and are of- 

 fered another just like it, it would seem 

 that they ought to know what it is for, 

 but they never seem to. I had one 

 exception to this of late. A swarm 

 clustered upon a grape-stake, and as 

 soon as I placed a hive close to it, they 



came from the stake in a steady 

 stream, and marched right into il. 



The rains have caused weeds and 

 grass to grow Uixurianllj', and they 

 should not be allowed to interfere with 

 tlie flight of l)ees to and from llieir 

 hives. If a blade of grass knocks down 

 a loaded bee, it either has to crawl 

 into the hive or take wing again, 

 which may take it more time to do 

 than it consumed on its flight from the 

 flowers. Time means honey to bees, 

 the same as it means money to men. 



Peoria, Ills. 



HIVES. 



Will the "Coming Hive" have 

 Less llian Ten Frames ? 



Written for the American BeeJowmal 



BV J. E. POND. 



That the matter of the "coming 

 hive" is one of interest, " goes with- 

 out saying," if I can judge from its 

 prominence as the subject of thought 

 among our ablest bee-men ; but promi- 

 nent as it is, some may say that enough 

 has been said already on the subject. 

 I admit that the question of size de- 

 pends largely upon locality and indi- 

 viduality ; still the beginner is the one 

 most to be benefitted, after all. Mr. 

 Doolittle, who must obtain all of his 

 surplus in a few days, may well say 

 that the Gallup hive is the one for 

 him ; but he is an expert. A novice 

 would do far better at first, even in 

 Borodino, with a larger hive. 



I am only led to write this article by 

 reading that of Mr. Robbius, on page 

 423, in reply t" -i foriier one of mine. 



Mr. Robbins says : " The 10-frame 

 hive men are in a minority." This I 

 deny ; statistics, and my ow^n corres- 

 pondence, prove to the contrary. If I 

 had a queen that would not fill more 

 than 7 Langstroth frames with brood 

 in 21 days,^I should exchange her for 

 a better one at once. 



In replying to Mr. R., I am at a loss 

 for argument; but I will s.ay this, that 

 if I was working an apiary for " moth- 

 cocoons," and " mouse-nests," I pre- 

 sume that I should prefer a smaller 

 hive than one Hi inches wide ; but 

 working my apiary as I tlo, for surplus 

 comb honey, I want just that size ; 

 with it 1 can work my bees more 

 nearly in accordance with natural 

 laws, than with a smaller hive. 



Mr R. is sick of dummies. Well, 

 who is not ? He admits that he must 

 use them, though, even in his hive. 1 

 use them, but seldom with a 10-fraine 

 hive, and with a decent colony I only 

 use one— 1 inch thick— to a hive. I 

 do not use them at all in winter, as 1 

 consider a frame of comb a better pro- 



