1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



17 



I felt only that they must be stopped ! now ! 

 at once ! 



Suddenly I remembered to have somewhere 

 read, that the queen often does not come out 

 before a third or a half of the swarm has 

 emerged. It was then pof^sible, it might even 

 he probable that she was still in the hive. If so 

 she should either stay there or be captured at 

 the entrance. 



Seizing a pail of water I rushed forth hat- 

 less, veil-less, glove-less into the midst of the 

 throng of ruu-aways and l)egan sprinkling them 

 as they emerged. But first, with curious and 

 absurd inconsistency — seeing how much faster 

 they wanted to come out than was possible, and 

 pitying their crowded discomfort — I involun- 

 tarily bent down and opened a fly-hole, and so 

 had two streams pouring forth instead of one! 

 (Nellie will never forget, or cease to laugh at me 

 for thai performance, I fear.) They beat against 

 my dress, they whizzed by my ears, brushed my 

 hair, grazed my clieeks, but 1 stood my ground, 

 trying to watch both openings at once for the 

 queen, and s^jrinkling the water more and more 

 copiously as I saw tliat it produced no effect. 

 I was beginning to despair, f(jr many l^ees were 

 washed down and I didn't care to drown them, 

 much less did I wish to risk drowning my 

 queen. Just then came a happy inspiration. 



" Hand me that wide board, quick ! quick !" 

 I cried to Richard, (who is a little afraid of 

 bees.) He cautiously shoved it within my 

 reach. Holding it so as to throw a shadow over 

 the entrance, I continued the sprinkling. The 

 efl'ect was magical. 



" It is going to be bomething of a shower 

 after all!" " The sun is under a cloud, and it 

 rains faster than ever ! " Telegrams of this im- 

 port must have been sent through the hive in a 

 twinkling, for all at once there was a sudden, 

 an entire stop to the outward rusli. 



Then for the first time 1 ventured to draw a 

 long breath, and then, too, I l;egan to question 

 doubtfully, if it had not been a very foolish 

 and useless, as well as an unsafe pnjceeding? 

 Was the queen out or in? The bees that had 

 been washed down were picking themselves up 

 rapidly, and I soon became convinced that she 

 was U(Jt among the7n. 



But over our heads quite an army of bees 

 were whirling and swarming, now this way, 

 now that. Once we accompanied them halt' 

 way acro.ss the woods, then l)ack to the vicinity 

 of the hive. Suddenly they sepanited widely 

 and came down to the ground, very evenly 

 scattered over a large surface. I knew that 

 they had missed and were looking for their 

 queen, and I wondered if their anxiety could be 

 half as great as mine, llising again, they 

 again seemed starting for the woods. But im- 

 mediately returning, once more they sprinkled 

 themselves far and near over the ground, some- 

 how, Nellie suggested, givingonethe ridiculous 

 impression of "going down on their hands and 



knees " to make an effectual search. Evidently 

 it was to them in some way a satisfying one, for 

 all now rose as by one accord and came hurrying 

 back to the hive, pouring in as fast as possi- 

 ble and covering the whole front with a black 

 sheet. 



So soon as all had settled, we lifted the hive 

 from its stand and placed an empty hive in its 

 stead. Then, after arranging the frumes and 

 putting in two combs of brood and honey from 

 the old hive, we (Nellie and I) began a careful 

 search for her missing qucenship. To our joy- 

 ful surprise it was not a long search. We found 

 her as composed and dignified in demeanor as 

 though nothing had happened, and with very 

 little trouble we transferred her to the new 

 hive. We found several queen-cells, the most 

 advanced containing the tiniest of worms. 



It was then, I think, that I for the first time 

 discovered that 1 had forgotten my bee-veil! 

 Of course I walked into the house for it at 

 once. 



The rest of the work, the apportionment of 

 the remaining bees — every bee was at home — 

 was a somewhat p'-rplexing business. However, 

 I used all the jud^.:ment 1 had, and if the divis- 

 i(m was not made quite as well as the bees 

 could have made it, everything has seemed to 

 go exactly right with the new colony thus far. 

 With the old colony, too, all was well until — 

 but that belongs to another chapter. 



Perhaps some one, as inexperienced as my- 

 self, may be interested to know that from first 

 to last the bees were on their very best behavior, 

 nobody was stung. 



We found a nucleus from the otlicr hive the 

 same afternoon, for interesting, exciting, and 

 on tlie whole satisf ictory as this experience had 

 been to me, I felt no desire to repeat the same 

 with another swarm, and in conclusion would 

 say that I do not venture to take the responsi- 

 liility of advising any lady beekeeper to take 

 the course of action above described. 



Cyula Linswik. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Dealings of frof. Ohevalley. 



Mr. Clarke and another bee keeper have 

 communicated to me letter^ trom Prof. Ohev- 

 alley, of Bellinzona. I know that several 

 others have received such letters, and I have 

 read in the French paper, U Apicvlteur, for 

 March, an article in which the editor of that 

 journal says, like Prof. Ohevalley did in his 

 letters, that : "As I was unable to buy queens in 

 Tesin on account of the low price I had olfered, 

 I was forced to get all I could find in the neigh- 

 boring of Milan, in second choice queens, as to 

 the Alpine characters." 



In answer to that article, Oount Vifjconti I. 

 Taliceto, editor of the journal of the Oentral 

 Society of Italy, in the number of April, p. 98, 

 writes : 



