1897. 



TEE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



67 



der any circumstances, to pay no at- 

 tention to their old location in setting 

 out?" 



It is supposed by some that when 

 the bees are set from the cellar each 

 colony must occupy the exact position 

 or stand it did the summer and fall 

 previous, or else many bees will be 

 lost by going back to their former lo- 

 cation. All who are at all familiar 

 with the bees know that the young 

 bee when it comes out of the hive for 

 the first time, marks its location by 

 turning its head toward the hive upon 

 taking wing, when it commences to 

 fly in front of the hive in circles, each 

 circle growing larger as it goes farther 

 from the hive, until it is lost from 

 sight. In this way the exact spot of 

 "home" is located, after which no 

 more precautions need be taken by 

 our bee for it seems to remember ever 

 afterward where home is. For this 

 reason it leaves the hive at all subse- 

 quent times in a direct line of flight, 

 never looking at the hive at all, so 

 that if the hive is afterward carried 

 to a new location the bees do not seem 

 to know it (unless carried two or more 

 miles away) but sally forth only to re- 

 turn to the exact spot where they first 

 marked their home, there to die home- 

 less wanderers. 



Now, while, as a rule, this is per- 

 fectly true, no matter whether the 

 hive is moved in the day time or at 

 night, yet I find that there are two 

 exceptions, one of which is in case of 

 a swarm, and the other is the first 

 flight in spring. While the bees seem 

 to know where their old location was, 

 so that the swarm, or bees in spring, 

 can return if they desire to, still a 

 swarm does not so desire except from 

 loss of queen, nor do bees in the spring 



if set out in the manner about to be 

 described ; hence in setting out I al- 

 ways place the hive where I wish it to 

 stand, thus avoiding much inconven- 

 ience and extra work. 



When I get ready to set the bees 

 from the cellar I first light my smok- 

 er and proceed with it and a spring 

 wheelborrow to the cellar door, at 

 which place both are left, when I go 

 in and bring out one of the colonies 

 and place it on the borrow. As soon 

 as this is done 1 puff a little smoke in 

 at the entrance of the hive so as to 

 keep the bees from running out and 

 stinging me, which they are sure to do 

 if no precaution is taken, and of all 

 the bees to sting bees which are sud- 

 denly awakened from a long winter 

 nap are the worst. Again, all such 

 bees as get out before the hive is 

 upon its stand are lost unless the hive 

 is set where it stood in the fall, as 

 they mark their location where they 

 leave the hive and so never find it 

 again, if they have not access to it 

 on their old location. Also, the 

 smoking causes them to be slower in 

 coming out so that swarming out and 

 confusion are avoided. As soon as the 

 smoke is puffed into the hive the cel- 

 lar door is shut, so as not to raise the 

 temperature and thus arouse the bees 

 which are still inside, when the hive 

 is wheeled to where it is to stand dur- 

 ing the summer, the entrance adjusted 

 and the cap or cover adjusted also, 

 if the same was left out door during 

 winter. In setting out they are not 

 all taken out at once, but I set out 

 from ten to twenty in the morning, 

 scattering them well about on the 

 different stands, and then as many 

 more along about two or three o'clock 

 in the afternoon, placing these last set 



