210 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



This is a splendid opportunity 

 for you to try our stock of queens. 



— Mr. Arthur Todd is now conduct- 

 ing for us a series of papers entitled 

 "Foreign Notes" which, as presented, 

 forms a new and valuable feature here- 

 tofore neglected. 



— Do hens eat live bees ? A Los 

 Angeles apiculturist seems to throw 

 some Hght on this mooted question. 

 He says that having often caught his 

 poultry in the flagrant act — standing 

 in front of the hives and taking the 

 busy insects as they pass in and out 

 — he finally despatched one and 

 found in her crop i8o bees. No 

 wonder the honey business is proving 

 unprofitable in that State, if this is 

 the general custom of the California 

 hen. 



— We are now printing 5 ,000 copies 

 per month of our journal, and we 

 mean before the season closes to 

 place it in the hands of every bee- 

 keeper in the land. 



— We call the attention of our 

 readers to the following offer : — 



Apiculturist for i year, i .00 



Locke's Feeder, .50 

 Apiculturist and feeder 



together, 1.15 



— We are indebted to a friend for 

 the following newspaper clippings : — 



HIVING BEES. 



This is rather a simple job to do 

 when one knows how to do it, yet 

 how many there are who seem to think 

 they must comply with all the super- 

 stitious notions of ages past? Who 

 has not seen and heard the hub- 

 bub and fuss of hiving a swarm of 

 bees by the old method. And too 

 many stick to the same old style yet 

 — the ringing of a bell, pounding 

 the dish pan, etc., to drown the com- 

 mands of the queen. We know now 

 that all this is useless. If you have 

 trees or bushes Iiandy for the swarm 

 to cluster on, you will rarely lose a 

 swarm, as it is very seldom that one 



goes off without first settling. You 

 should have some good clean hives, 

 in a cool place, ready for the swarms 

 when they come. 



If you have a number of stocks 

 that you think likely may swarm right 

 away and cause trouble, as soon as 

 you see a swarm issuing, fill your 

 garden sprinkler with water and sprin- 

 kle those stocks that have given 

 signs of swarming, which will hold 

 them in check till your swarm al- 

 ready out can be hived. If another 

 begins to pour out after the first one 

 is clustered, but before you have had 

 time to hive them, throw a sheet 

 over those clustered to prevent the 

 others from alighting there also. I 

 have had as many as three such clus- 

 ters covered at one time, other 

 swarms coming out too fast for the 

 first to get out of the way. 



Let your swarm have plenty of 

 time to cluster ; no need to be in a 

 hurry if they cluster well. If they 

 light on some tree or bush that you 

 do not care about marring, cut off 

 the limb or limbs they are on, and 

 carry to where your hive is, which in 

 this case may be where you want it 

 to stay. Place a cloth drawn in front 

 of the hives so the bees can have a 

 clean road to the entrance. Hold- 

 ing your cluster within a foot of the 

 entrance, give it a slight shake — 

 enough to throw off part of the bees 

 — they will soon find the entrance, 

 and, setting up that happy hum 

 which is music to the beekeeper, will 

 travel in ; then when they are all well 

 under way, shake off some more, 

 holding the branch meanwhile over 

 those shaken down, which will attract 

 and catch those that may take wing. 

 Should you shake them all down at 

 once and step to one side, you may 

 have the fun of seeing them form 

 another cluster for you to cut down. 

 Watch the corners, and see to it that 

 the stream of bees does not get down 

 under the hive or alighting board ; 

 keep them in the ranks by brushing 

 back gently with a wing, or blowing 



