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THE, AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May, 



ano'ther. If there are clumps of bush- 

 es, or trees, or buildings, they are set 

 about these objects, facing outward. 

 When a swarm first issues it seeks a 

 somewhat open space where the bees 

 fly back and forth, in circular fashion 

 until the last of the swarm is out of 

 the hive. Then they may rise up or 

 drift away to other parts of fhe apiary 

 yard. B'Ut as they fly they gather 

 more compactly together. The bees 

 sally forward and circle back again 

 toward the rear o'f the flying swarm. 

 Then they circle forward again ex- 

 tending the circles farther than before. 

 There is a difference in the sound, or, 

 pitch of sound, at the front of the 

 flying swarm from that at the rear. 

 One is quick and sonorous, the other, 

 slow and dull. The same bees which 

 make one variety 'of sound make the 

 other, according to what part of the 

 swarm they are situated in. It re- 

 quires an amount of motive force if 

 not considerable judgment to produce 

 sound of a particular kind in one spot 

 and restrain it in another. 



By my swarm system I aim to have 

 the swarms settle together as much 

 as possible. Therefore the hives are 

 set around the outside facing a cen- 

 tral open space and in the center of 

 the open space is w'here I arrange my 

 ■swarm decoy, or "settling seat," as the 

 Frenchmen term it. I use live queens 

 — ithe real attracting objects — an old 

 queen and a virgin, or even several of 

 each. Queens are plentiful at that 

 season, being tihe time when I destroy 

 the old ones for the substitution of 

 new, and as for virgins, I find from 

 four to a dozen in every hive that 

 casts a second swarm. Then they are 

 reared by artificial methods also. For 

 ©he decoy real, live bees are used 

 From the first swarm w'hich issues, or 

 from some over populous hive I get 

 about four quarts. Cage them two or 

 three days with the queens and they 



will never go home and they will re- 

 main on a pole anywhere. Some- 

 times these bee*s are shaken into a 

 screened box and kept separate from 

 the queens through the night. Then 

 when they are placed with the queens 

 again in the morning, they will make 

 a great commotion or fanning, or 

 those actions by whiclh bees indicate 

 their joy or satisfaction. It is very at- 

 tractive to other bees, to say the least. 

 You can search for and cage the 

 queen of a clustered swarm. Leave 

 the queen with the swarm in the cage 

 until ten o'clock the next day. Then 

 place the queen and about a pint of 

 bees on the alighting board of your 

 prepared hive and the swarm will soon 

 come down from the tree and go into 

 the hive. Or if the hive is held so 

 that the air from the fanning bees is 

 wa'fted against the clustered swarm, 

 it will cause an immediate uneasiness 

 and action. After this you can take 

 the hive down in the orchard and hide 

 it and your swarm will come after it; 

 or, of it is set in the cellar the bees 

 will accumulate about the screened 

 w'indows. The bees will follow the 

 hive and queen as surely as a hungry 

 dog will follow you for a chunk of 

 meat that he knows is intended tor 

 him. When they get located in this 

 hive they will work with a vim that 

 is not known in other kinds of treat- 

 ment. 



I used to tlhink that this fanning 

 and buzzing of bees to call each other 

 was merely wafted air or sound, but 

 there is indication that it is scent, 

 and 'Mr. Pratt (iSwarthmore) claims to 

 have discovered a special seent organ. 

 Most bee-keepers kniow that a few 

 fanning bees are a great attraction to 

 any flying swarm. It is what induces 

 bees to cluster on a strange hive, 

 and lucky is the man who can have his 

 decoy in the place of tIhe strange hive 

 when the clustering begins. Much of 



