i8y7. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I should feel very certain that it is error were it not that 

 so many, who have long been able students of apiculture and 

 the habits of the bees, accede to the proposition. In all the 

 old-time bee-literature we read that the queen leads the 

 swarm. The very name " queen " is in this sense misleading. 

 So we see that there is something in a name. The rose would 

 doubtless smell as sweet with any other name, but men would 

 often reason more correctly and be more sure to speak the 

 truth were everything rightly named. The queen is in no 

 sense a queen. She is often maltreated, killed. I do not be- 

 lieve that she ever leads forth a swarm. I have watcht at the 

 entrance of hives scores and scores of times, and never yet 

 have I known a queen to lead forth a swarm. She usually 

 comes forth after most of the bees are on the wine, gyrating 

 about the hive as they wait for her to come forth. They often 

 begin to cluster before she comes out from the old home. This 

 Is not only true when the old queen goes out with a swarm, 

 but in all cases observed by me it is equally true of the virgin 

 queens that are to go forth to a new home and region. It is 

 well to study the economy of 'the hive or its inmates before we 

 conclude in such matters. Is it possible that this old, erro- 

 neous view has deceived the very elect ? 



The queen, I believe, never goes forth from a colony ex- 

 cept to mate or with a swarm. She may go out two or more 

 times to mate, and will unless she is successful the first time. 

 In this case she goes not because a swarm is issuing, but for 

 an entirely different purpose. She goes forth, circles about 

 for a little, and starts off on her mission ; which is to meet a 

 drone and not to hie forth with a swarm. She is off before the 

 swarm would be out, and of course if the few that might fol- 

 low on — in case they ever do this — should accompany the 

 queen, they would start off at once and not cluster. 1 have 

 never known such an event to occur. Has any one ? 



Swarming is an entirely different matter. Impelled by 

 too crowded quarters, or some other want of balance, the bees 

 push out, but are not led by the queen, and before she comes 

 forth, or soon after, they commence to cluster, and will be 

 joined by the queen. The very fact that she is not among the 

 first to come forth, seems to me to show that she has no plan 

 of mating before her, but with the other bees, swarming is 

 now in mind, and she goes forth to swarm ; will cluster and 

 behave as bees always do when intent on increase of colonies. 



The inquiry is as follows: "When a young queen flies 

 out on her bridal trip, the bees sometimes swarm out with her. 

 Does such a swarm sometimes remain out permanently without 

 returning? And if so, in about what proportion of cases?" 



To answer fully as I believe, I would say : I doubt if bees 

 ever swarm out with the queen as she goes forth ou the mar- 

 riage flight. When she goes forth to mate she goes alone and 

 the bees remain behind and keep at their regular work. When 

 they go with her, all have another purpose in view, and be- 

 have very differently. The bees lead forth, the queen follows : 

 they cluster, and soon, unless hived, go forth to a place pre- 

 viously lookt up and prepared for their new home. 



We all know that'swarming is always preceded by such 

 preparation hours before, and also that the bees behave very 

 differently on the day that the swarm is to leave. Why should 

 we conclude that the bees go out with the queen ? Why not, 

 rather, conclude that if the bees do accompany the queen, 

 they were to go out to swarm, and she to accompany them, 

 and not to mate. 



Then, to answer the question, I would say: No; the 

 swarm never goes out with the queen as she starts off to 

 mate ; but if they do go they all go as a swarm, and no mat- 

 ing at all is in contemplation as such times. In case a swarm 

 goes out with a young virgin queen as they are very likely to 

 do, in case the season is favorable and the beekeeper does not 

 work to prevent it, they will act much as does a first swarm 

 with the old queen, that is, cluster, aad, after sometime of 

 rest, fly forth to the new home. 



The young queen is light and nimble, and very likely will 

 fly further before clustering, and cluster higher. I have 

 rarely known a first swarm to cluster more than five or six 

 feet from the ground. I have known second swarms to cluster 

 full 80 feet from the earth. This may have been simply acci- 

 dental, but I think not. Old first swarms rarely go any great 

 distance before alighting; while second swarms may go off 

 several rods. I have known swarms to cluster for miles 

 away from the apiary ; and in more than one case to remain 

 overnight. In such cases I have believed that the queen was 

 tired out, and that the bees halted to give her a rest. 



It has often occurred to me that the queen seems an ex- 

 ception to all other animals in her habit of flight. If we 

 should not use any special muscles for days, not to say months 

 or a year, we would find it difficult to exercise. The queen 

 may have been without use of her wings for a full year, and 

 yet she goes forth with the swarm to fly perhaps a mile or 



more, and often flies with great rapidity. The fact of the 

 long flight of the virgin queen is hardly less a surprise. She 

 may never have tried her wings, and yet she goes forth for a 

 long trip at the time of her first flight. I have wondered if the 

 clustering habit was not because of this exceptional feat on 

 the part of the queen-bee. We can well understand that the 

 queen would need a rest. The clustering for an hour or two 

 after her first short flight would fit her the better for this new 

 kind of experience. 



I have stated above that the new home is always sought 

 out and prepared sometime before the swarm issues. It is 

 possible that I am hasty in coming to this conclusion, but I 

 have positive evidence that it has occurred on several occa- 

 sions, and as we know that bees act about the same at all 

 times and in all places, I conclude that bees always have their 

 home in readiness before the swarm issues from its old home. 

 In one case I saw bees cleaning out an old hive in such num- 

 bers that I thought a swarm had entered it ; soon they all left, 

 and the next day a now swarm came to that hive. Another 

 case that I knew, the bees about 11 o'clock were seen in one 

 side of a building, flying in and out through a hole, in such 

 numbers that it was supposed a swarm had taken possession 

 of the place. Soon all the bees left, but in the afternoon a 

 large colony came and took possession of the place. 



I have known several such cases — enough to convince me, 

 if not enough to prove that this is always the case. 



It were well if we knew exactly the cause, or causes, that 

 lead to swarming. There is but little doubt that crowded 

 quarters, and the discomforts arising from such condition is a 

 chief cause. Yet every extensive, observing bee-keeper has 

 known swarming to occur when there was no great crowd of 

 bees; and rarely when there were frames without comb. It 

 is not infrequent that bees leave the hive when it is depleted 

 of honey, or when it is foul with the excreta from diarrhea in 

 cases of disastrous wintering. It would seem as if discomfort 

 might be the one impelling cause of swarming, even though 

 the unrest was due to abnormal cause. 



The honored Mr. Quinby's desire for a queen that would 

 produce bees void of the swarming instinct has been shared by 

 many since Mr. Quinby exprest it. If we knew that discom- 

 fort was the cause, we would study to forestall all discomfort, 

 and so attain the desideratum. Even if unrest, natural or 

 from disastrous consequence, be the cause, we need not 

 despair breeding it out. We know some people possess marvel- 

 ous fortitude, and keep their equipoise, even when darkest 

 clouds threaten ; there is no reason to think that bees may not 

 differ in temperament, as well as human beings. I have no 

 doubt but that such is the case, and have full faith that this 

 and all other desirable qualities await development at the 

 hands of the wise, painstaking, patient breeder of the deni- 

 zens of the hive. Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



Yellow Sweet Clover— Melilotus Officinalis. 



BY MRS. L. E. R. LAMBRIGGER. 



When I first began talking up sweet clover, I used the 

 words "sweet clover" only, not dreaming that people in gen- 

 eral were ignorant of the fact that there are two varieties, but 

 I am beginning to learn that a writer cannot plain his state- 

 ments any too carefully. 



From letters in the bee-papers, as well as private letters 

 received ; also from remarks dropped by prominent bee-men, 

 I am led to conclude that very few people know anything 

 about yellow sweet clover, while the few who do seem to eye 

 it with suspicion. 



If there is one trait upon which I pride myself more than 

 another, it is that of accuracy. I never intend to write any- 

 thing for the press that I have to take back afterward ; I may 

 commit such a blunder sometime, but never have yet. Now 

 for the subject in hand. 



I am indebted to Mr. M. M. Baldridge, of Illinois, for a 

 copy of his bulletin (No. 1) on White Melilot. I am perfectly 

 familiar with the plant, and wish to say for that gentleman's 

 benefit, as well as all others interested, that while what he 

 claims for it is perfectly correct, the yellow melilot will do all 

 that the white will do, and — more. I have sent him a packet 

 of the seed, and feel confident that in the near future he will 

 issue a bulletin holding forth the merits of yellow sweet clover. 



In speaking of this plant I can do no better than to repro- 

 duce, or repeat, if you please, what I said of it in the Nebraska 

 Farmer, under date of Oct. 15, 1896. 



Each seed produces many branches (or stools, if you pre- 

 fer), and each branch produces a flower-spike. It does more 

 than that, since every branch sends out many branchlets, and 

 each brancblet throws up a flower-spike also. Hence it wilt 



