Published Monthly by TheW.T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



Vol. XI 



NOVEMBER, 1901 



No. 11 



BEGINNERS' LESSON. NO. 4. 



BY F. G. HERMAN. 



MODERN invention has also hit 

 upon a device to control the 

 swarming of bees, which is 

 rapidly superseding the old device of a 

 bushel basket fastened to a pole, or a 

 bag hung on a pronged stick, which are 

 still used when the bees fly out of the 

 hive and alight in the tree, accompanied 

 by the queen. The new method is based 

 upon the very old knowledge that the 

 bees will not go off without their queen; 

 and the invention is a contrivance made 

 of wood and zinc which is affixed to the 

 entrance of the hive. This device is 

 full of holes large enough to let the 

 worker bees go in and out; but too small 

 to permit the queen, who is consider- 

 able larger than the worker bees, to 



pass out. 



When swarming time approaches the 

 bee-keeper simply claps this queen- trap 

 over the entrance of the hive, the 

 workers rush out through the perfora- 

 tions; but the queen finds herself a 

 prisoner. The bee-keeper then sets a 

 new hive on the old stand, puts the 

 queen inside, and when the workers 

 come back to look for her, they find her 

 still doing business at the old stand, but 

 in a brand new house, of which they 

 willingly take possession. The same 

 object is attained by clipping one side of 

 the queen's wings, which disables her 

 from flying with the swarm. It is the 



custom among experts to practice clip- 

 ping, but the novice will succeed better 

 with the queen trap. 



The swarming time is not only one of 

 great anxiety to the bee-keeper, but also 

 of intense interest and pleasure; and the 

 sooner this exodus takes place the better 

 for the bees and the bee-keeper as well. 

 Whenever the bees deem it necessary 

 they enlarge an ordinary worker cell in 

 the brood combs into a queen cell and 

 feed the inmate with an especially pre- 

 pared food, commonly called royal jelly, 

 so that in sixteen or seventeen days a 

 new queen is ready to make her bow to 

 the world. She would never make it, 

 however, if the old queen had her way 

 about it. A colony may have only one 

 queen at a time and whem the old queen 

 sees that the workers are beginning to 

 build queen cells, she makes vigorous 

 efforts to get at them and destroy her 

 coming rivals. It is for this purpose that 

 she has been provided by nature with a 

 sting, and she never uses it on a human 

 being; only on rival queens. The sting 

 of an ordinary bee is barbed, so that if 

 she once inserts it in a person she cannot 

 draw it out again, but must pay with 

 her own life the penalty of her venge- 

 ance. As the queen's life, however, is 

 too valuable to be easily lost, nature has 

 provided her with a sting that is barb- 

 less, so that she may use it as often as 

 she chooses without paying for her tem- 

 per with her life; or rather, as often as 



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