No. 10. 



Bees — Hiving and Swarming. 



315 



oats into rye, this remarkable phenomenon 

 has not only been revived by new experi- 

 ments, but we have caused again beds to be 

 sown with oats, in order that we may be able 

 to convince all disbelievers, by sending them, 

 at their request, rye-stalks which spring from 

 a caudex, that still shows the withered leaves 

 of the oat-plant of the foregoing year. We 

 repeat, that this transformation takes place 

 if the oats be sown very late, about midsum- 

 mer's day, and cut tioice as green fodder be- 

 fore shooting into flower-stalks, whereupon 

 a considerable number of the oat-plants do 

 not die in the course of the winter, but are 

 changed in the following spring into rye, 

 forming stalks which cannot be known from 

 those of the finest winter-rye. The society 

 must expect that this fact will be considered 

 by many as a mere assertion, nay, there are 

 still a number of its own members who doubt 

 it ; these however own, that they have either 

 not made the experiment, or that they have 

 sown the oats too early, and therefore had to 

 cut the oats oflener than twice, in order to 

 prevent it from forming a flower-stalk, where- 

 by the plant loses the power of surviving the 

 winter, and of being transformed into rye. 

 Let any one sow the oats during the latter 

 half of June, and the transformation in ques- 

 tion will certainly take place If, how- 

 ever, among those who doubt the fact, there 

 be found charitable people who pity us be- 

 cause we trust more to actual experiment 

 than to theory, we should almost be tempted 

 to pity theorists, whose self-sufficiency has 

 prevented them from thoroughly investigat- 

 ing an important phenomenon which was 

 noticed so many years ago The Socie- 

 ty takes credit to itself for perseverence, in 

 having struggled against the opinion of the 

 public for several years, in order to estab- 

 lish a fact which no systematic physiologist 

 would believe, because people are always 

 apt to confound the laws of nature with those 

 of their system." 



S. S. H. 



West Hempfield, March 19th, 1844. 



The foregoing communication was intended by the 

 writer for the Pennsylvania Farmer; but that paper 

 being discontinued, it was handed over for the Cabinet. 

 We cheerfully give it place, because it is in relation to 

 a very curious subject : we must however be allowed 

 to express our entire disbflicf in the metamorphosis 

 spoken of; and for this very simple reason : — it is con- 

 trary to every known law of nature. Those who be- 

 lieve in the possibility of the transmutation of wheat 

 or rye into cheat, are bound to place their facts in a po- 

 sition that cannot be disputed — the burden of proof 

 must lie with them, inasmuch as they would establish 

 a fact at variance with every physiological principle. 

 -Ed. 



Bees— Hiving and Swarming. 



Mr. Editor, — Sir: As I have assisted in 

 hiving two or three hundred swarms of bees, 

 my experience may be of use to some who 

 are less acquainted with this part of their 

 management. I am well aware that many 

 persons do not keep bees, for the sole reason 

 that they do not know how to hive them. 



When I first had the care of bees, it was 

 my practice to make all the noise that I 

 could at the time my bees swarmed, to in- 

 duce them to light, but I soon became satis- 

 fied that the noise was of no use ; for I am 

 convinced that it is almost universally their 

 cu.stom, to light in the immediate vicinity of 

 the present stock, if undisturbed and left 

 entirely to themselves. 



I have, to my knowledge, had only two 

 swarms leave at the time of swarming. 

 One of these was a swarm that melted 

 down, at which time the bees all came upon 

 the outside of the hive and the contents 

 were removed; yet they never entered the 

 hive, but remained two or three days on the 

 outside and then left for the forest. I ac- 

 companied them to their new abode, about 

 one fourth of a mile from the bee-house. 

 They had evidently selected the place, as 

 they went in as fast as they had lit upon the 

 tree. 



The other I think left in consequence of 

 there being nothing convenient for them to 

 light upon, — for at this time I had very few 

 trees near my bee-house. This swarm, like 

 the other, moved very slow, so that I walked 

 along with it about half a mile, when it 

 alighted and was hived. This, evidently, 

 had no place selected, for they appeared to 

 be searching all the trees around them for a 

 place, and so numerous were they about the 

 trunks of the trees, that they were very 

 mucli in our way when hiving. 



When the bees have gone up into the 

 hive, it should be immediately let down so 

 as to exclude the light, as I think more 

 swarms are lost from this neglect than all 

 other causes. There is nothing laughable 

 in the practice of making a noise, to induce 

 a swarm to light, yet I do think it is worse 

 than useless. If a swarm does not readily 

 light, and appears to be making for the 

 forest, if not disturbed, it will move very 

 slow and can be easily followed ; whereas, 

 if it be followed by noise, throwing dirt, &c., 

 it will move quite fast and consequently can- 

 not be pursued. I am confident, that a per- 

 son who observes the above directions about 

 hiving, and adopts the practice of not dis- 

 turbing his bees at the time of swarming, 

 will rarely mourn the loss of a swarm. — Mas^ 

 sachusetls Ploughman. 



