174 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



little blue eyes. We have a little fair-haired 

 girl with a sunny smile, wlio the otlier day 

 got a stiug while adjusting the bloclcs as 

 she had seen me do. She kept me awake 

 that night, and the next morning Mr. M. re- 

 marked my wearied appearance, and said, 

 "Wife. I do not think it pays to have that 

 baby stung like tliat ; I fear your bees are 

 a poor investment." I had iny own private 

 thoughts and again bathed my baby's stiug 

 with amonia, and said nothing. Poor dar- 

 ling, she often puts that hand forme to Hiss, 

 and tries to tell me about it. Sir, I thought 

 I was transferring bees ; but I see I have 

 wandered far away. I will tell you the re- 

 sult of those bees at some other time. 

 Elyria, Ohio. Mrs. W. M. 



Cause of Bee Swarming and Mij^ra- 

 ting to the Forests. 



The period of incubation by the queen 

 commences early in the spring. It is rapid- 

 ly generative, and when the honey season 

 approaches, the cells are well stocked with 

 eggs, larvse, &c. At this time, the working 

 bees sally forth to labor day after day with 

 untiring assiduity to stock their homes with 

 a winter'3 supply of provender. During 

 the busy season they intimate a negligence 

 toward the royal blood by packing cell 

 after cell with their wealth and rapidly con- 

 tracting the queens domains — the cells for 

 her deposits. The breeding space of the 

 hive thus becomes rapidly narrowed, and, 

 finally, the queen, having no empty cells, 

 locates in some remote place, generally on 

 or near the edge of a comb, and continues 

 her deposits. The latter, on the edge of the 

 comb, are eaten by the working bees. 

 Thus situated, the royal influence of the 

 queen is limited, and unexerted. The 

 wealth of the community has unsettled the 

 kingdom. The entire swarm seems to be 

 dis-loyal. It presents the condition of a 

 nation which has lost its sovereign. The 

 working bees, powerful in wealth, construct 

 royal residences or "queen-cells," in which 

 they rear queens ; and to be certain lest the 

 royal blood should become extinct. The 

 royal family consists of many queens, heirs 

 expectant, and when these youtliful queens 

 are hatched, the old queen, jealous of lier 

 regal honors, undertakes to destroy her 

 rival queens. Unable to succeed, as an 

 army of workers surrountl and defend the 

 young queens, the old queen abdicates her 

 throne, and sallies forth from her late 

 dominions, accompanied by her loyal sub- 

 jects, old and young, whirling and buzzing 

 in dire confusing. After all of the disaUcc- 

 ted have left the hive they settle with the 

 queen upon a shrub or bush. This i6*tvhat 

 constitutes "swarming." 



In swarming, it is believed tliat a regular 

 and permanent organization is not entirely 



affected until after the departure of the 

 swarm from the parent hive to cluster in a 

 body, not unlike a mass convention. Im- 

 mediately on swarming, the greatest tumult 

 and confusion ensues throughout the ranks, 

 at the same time manifesting a desire to 

 alight sufficiently far from their late abode, 

 so as not to be interrupted or annoyed 

 wliile completing their organization and 

 arrangements for their prospective home. 

 Here we notice a striking pecularity. All 

 the bees that are capable of taking wing, 

 young, middle aged and aged (except those 

 that are employed in nursing the young 

 larvae, brooding over the chrysalis, or are 

 out in the fields,) accompany the swarm to 

 seek their new habitation. 

 ~ Here is wisdom and order created out of 

 disorder and rebellion. The Author of all 

 things has " most wisely" fixed their dispo- 

 sitions so as to prevent the overthrow of the 

 old colony. A large number of bees are 

 absent from the fields, amassing honey, at 

 the time when the swarming takes place. 

 These, no doubt, amid the unsettled condi- 

 tion of home affairs, would join the new 

 colony and leave the parent home unprotec- 

 ted and defenceless. • The combs w^ould be- 

 come despoiled and ravaged by the irrup- 

 tion of those little barbarians — the moth 

 family, the infant queens would die from 

 want of careful nursing ; the germ of 

 another new colony — the larvai and chrysa- 

 lis — would be lost in the general wreck, 

 without the protection afibrded by these 

 absentees, who, when they return, oiler the 

 necessary care to preserve the household 

 with its interests. 



When a new colony leaves the hive, and 

 goes off without alighting on a shrub or 

 bush, it is, as a general thing, those swarms 

 which hang upon the outside of the hive. 

 It is an unusual occurrence, that swarma 

 which hang upon the outside of the hive 

 leave until they have sent oil' ambassadors 

 to select a suitable home for their future 

 abode. 



Now if bees are hived immediately after 

 they have alighted, or before they have 

 dispatched their agents to select a new tene- 

 ment, they w ill not leave at all, if their new 

 residence has been made agreeable, and 

 clear of everything oilcnsive to them, and 

 sufficiently commodious. (For it is want 

 of room that causes swarming.) Then, to 

 secure the new swarm we reccommend 

 " artificial swarming." — From Flander'a 

 Bee BiO'c. 



Honey is never found in the second sto- 

 mach of the bee, but only in the first. The 

 latter contains only the Myme, being the 

 digested or partially digested food, which 

 passes into the intestines, and the final ex- 

 creta there show that the food consists 

 mainly of pollen or bee-bread. 



