230 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



ant, and the cells were so filled with uncapped 

 honey, that suitable brood was scarce, only one 

 comb showing eggs and larvae. Rapping smart- 

 ly on the opposite side of that comb, (for Febu- 

 rier claimed that those raps would attract tlie 

 queen), I put one half of the combs, witli the 

 bees attached, in my new hive, and fitted the two 

 hives with empty frames. Tlicn placing them 

 one foot on each side of the old stand, I watched 

 to see the bees divide equally between them. 

 The next day all seemed right, to my inexperi- 

 enced eyes, and I started on my journey with 

 entire confidence that the work had been well 

 done. 



On my return I found my new hive covered 

 with clustering bees ; but as for the old stock 

 hardly a bee could be seen entering or issuing. 

 I raised the outer box and opened the hive. It 

 contained neither bees, nor brood, nor honey ; 

 but a large number of moth worm in various 

 stages of growth. I had evidently put the 

 queen with the brood, leaving the old stock 

 without the means of raising another. I resol- 

 ved to repeat the operation more carefully, and 

 undertook the tedious taskot picking out all the 

 worms, and destroying thcni. 



The ensuing two days were rainy. On the 

 third, as I was making preparations to re-divide, 

 I was informed that my bees were decamping. 

 Indeed crowds of them were already hovering 

 in the yard, and I soon saw many enter, by an 

 open window, a second-story room in a neigh- 

 boring house. A woman and two boys, occu- 

 pants of the room, were quickly busy, with 

 cloths and broom, endeavoring to expel the in- 

 truders. I hastened to the scene, and on my 

 arrival, saw a small cluster hanging in the em- 

 brasure of the window, and the disturbed bees 

 dispersed through the room, while tiie woman 

 and the boys were severely stung in their efi"orts 

 to dislodge the unwelcome visitors. With much 

 ado, I succeeded in persuading the woman to 

 leave the bees in peacesible possession of the 

 chamber a short time, till I could make arrange- 

 ments for their removal— promising tliat she 

 should be rid of the annoyance before noon. I 

 then proceeded to extract the stings from the 

 three victims. Here let me remark, by way of 

 parenthesis, that usually the stinging bee leaves 

 in the flesh the sling with the vesicle or sac 

 containing the poison attached. If the sting is 

 not extracted immediately, the vesicle being 

 contracted, continues to pour its contents into 

 the wound. If pulled away with the fingers, 

 the vesicle is pressed, and the same effect takes 

 place, only more quickly. The best way to 

 't)revent this, is to remove the sting by sliding a 

 knife blade on the sJcin ; the venom bag is thus 

 closed, and if the operation is promptly perform- 

 ed, no swelling will result. As no specific rem- 

 edy for the sting of the honey bee has yet been 

 discovered, the less the wound is touched or 

 rubbed after removing the sting, the less will be 

 the swelling. 



While the bees were gathering in a cluster, I 

 surrounded the mouth of a bag with Avire to keep 

 it distended, raised it under the cluster, dis- 

 lodged the bees by sliding a quill between them 

 and the ceiling, closed the bag, and carried the 

 swarm to my hive. On repeating this operation. 



very few bees remained in the room. Then se- 

 lecting from my old hive a good comb full of 

 honey, I took it to the boys, to mollify their 

 stings and temper. Still, this donation was not 

 sufficient to assuage the anger of the father on 

 his return ; for next day I received a visit from 

 two policemen, who announced that as my bees 

 were accused of disturbing the public peace, 

 they were condemned to leave the city immedi- 

 ately.* I however succeeded in obtaining a 

 week's delay, and as some daj'^s after, I found a 

 few just hatclied queens thrown out on the zinc 

 roof, showing that no swarm was to be expected 

 that season, I determined to let them remain 

 where they were till the ensuing spring. 



Charles Dadant. 

 Hamilton, III. 



*4®"\Ve take pleasure In announcinaf that, if the 

 anti-aplarian portion of the good people of Wenham 

 lack a legal precedent for municipal bee-banishment, 

 it seems liicoy, from the Incident related above, that 

 they could find it in the reeords of the police court of 

 the ancient city of Langres, in France. Wou't they 

 send a delegation for it 1 



A New Kind of Bee-Bob. 



To keep natural swarms from decamping 

 when they issue, and induce them to settle in a 

 manner convenient for hiving, I take two or 

 three frames filled with comb, adjust them to- 

 gether at the distance apart at which they are 

 usually set in the hive, and fasten them to a 

 light pole of convenient length. When the 

 swarm issues, I present this to the bees ten or 

 twelve feet in front of their hive, and they usu- 

 ally betake themselves to it without hesitation 

 or delay. If the swarm has already settled on 

 a tree, it can commonly be induced to take pos- 

 session of the combs, by placing the apparatus 

 gently over or against the cluster. Even if set- 

 tled in a hedge, otherwise difficult of access, 

 they will readily remove to more acceptable 

 quarters, if the frames be presented to them 

 through an opening in the hedge, made by 

 drawing the branches asunder. When the bees 

 have fully taken possession of the comb, they 

 are not apt to leave ; and the frames may be 

 again separated, and set in a hive in the usual 

 manner, with the bees adhering to the combs. 



J. RODELSPERGEK. 



When capping worker or drone cells the beea 

 sometimes use newly secreted wax, but more 

 generally take the needed supply from the thick- 

 ened edges of the cells themselves. Queen celh 

 receive a kind of duplicate capping, being first 

 closed in the ordinary manner with a thin film 

 or scale of wax, over Avhich a thicker outer 

 covering is afterwards placed, with a narrow 

 dead-air space between. 



Each of the numerous species of bees has 

 some difference in its habits, its mode of col- 

 lecting honey, constructing its dwelling, or 

 providing for its young, and other particulars. 



