THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



211 



a light puff of smoke in their faces 

 now and then. Keep them moving 

 till you get them all in, else your 

 queen may be outside, and the swarm 

 come out to find her. 



It is of importance that you give 

 them, if possible, a small patch of 

 brood in a frame, as a new swarm 

 rarely leaves a hive with a brood in 

 it. Never leave a new swarm where it 

 is hived till sundown ; this is a mis- 

 take — one which loses you many bees, 

 for in less than an hour they will lo- 

 cate their new home and be carrying 

 honey and pollen. If you have to 

 move it then, do so when they are 

 all in. In case your swarm alights 

 away up on a tall tree, or on branches 

 you do not wish to cut off, have a 

 sack made of common muslin, about 

 three feet long and fourteen to six- 

 teen inches in diameter. Sew a small 

 finger loop on the bottom of the 

 sack both outside and in. Bend a 

 I or I -inch iron rod into a round 

 hoop for the mouth of the sack, let- 

 ting the two ends be welded together 

 three or four inches to form a handle, 

 and sew the ring fast to the mouth of 

 the sack. 



Next get a good stout pole of such 

 a diameter and length as to handle 

 best for the height of your trees, or 

 make one out of a 2 x 2 piece of pine. 

 Bore a hole in one ■ end and insert 

 the handle of the iron hoop, fasten- 

 ing so it will not turn. Have an- 

 other pole (or a half-inch rod may 

 do) with a hook on one end. With 

 these two tools you can get down a 

 cluster from quite high places by us- 

 ing a ladder part way. Hold the 

 sack up till it touches the limb, the 

 cluster being inside ; then give the 

 limb a jerk with the hooked pole, 

 drop the latter and turn the hoop 

 quarter way round, which closes the 

 sack with the bees inside. Lower 

 the sack and carry to your hive, put 

 your finger through the loop on the 

 bottom, end it mouth down, and 

 shake out the bees. The loop is to 

 prevent the crushing of bees inside 



by grasping with the hand. Turn 

 the sack wrong side out by passing 

 it through the hoop, and the few 

 bees remaining are on the outside. 

 We are indebted for this sack-hiver 

 to Charles Dadant & Son, Hancock 

 County, 111. 



Should your bees cluster on the 

 body of a tree, or down among the 

 roots of a bush, place your hive or a 

 box up over the cluster, or next to it 

 as near as you can, and stir them up 

 by a little smoke on the opposite 

 side. Soon a few bees will find the 

 way in and set up their cry, "Here 

 is a home for us ; come on boys," 

 and the rest will follow. It at any 

 time they lag on the way in, and 

 stop in little clusters, a little puff of 

 smoke, or drawing a small bunch of 

 grass or leaves over their backs will 

 start them on again. Some sprinkle 

 the cluster with water before hiving. 

 I could never see any adv^antage in 

 this, any more than in the rant and 

 noise of old times. Keep quiet and 

 enjoy the music of a swarm of bees 

 on the wing. 



ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE FOR BEES. 



Not enough attention is paid to 

 this subject. If beginners would 

 study the honey resources of their 

 locality, and if their bees lack pas- 

 turage, supply them with more by 

 sowing honey plants, there would be 

 fewer beekeeping failures than now. 

 I do not think that it pays to culti- 

 vate any plants for honey alone, but 

 there are good honey plants that pay 

 aside from the honey obtained from 

 them. One of the best of these is 

 alsyke clover. This does well on al- 

 most any soil, but is best adapted to 

 moist, heavy clay soils, and in such 

 localities it will outlive red clover. 

 The hay made from it is fine in qual- 

 ity, and is equal to any of the clover 

 or grasses in use for pasturage for 

 stock. In this locality it is one of 

 our best honey plants. It comes in 

 bloom about a week earlier than 

 white clover, and under good cultiva- 

 tion yields a larger amount of honey. 



