302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



CAPTURING A RUNAWAY SWARM. 

 How to Get a Swarm from a High Limb of a Tree. 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



In Stray Straws, Jan. 15, Dr. Miller speaks 

 of throwing a stone, with cord attached, over 

 a high limb to bring down a swarm of Vjees, to 

 which the editor adds his usual interesting 

 notes. I have tried another way to accom- 

 plish the same result, which I think is appli- 

 cable in at least some cases where the stone- 

 and-cord plan will not work, and do it in 

 much better shape. The following descrip- 

 tion, with accompanying illustration, will ex- 

 plain the modus operandi. 



A year ago last summer I had a swarm of 

 bees leave their hive, after being hived three 

 or four times, and go to the near-by woods. 

 They stopped at the first tree they came to, a 

 tall beech, well limbed to within 1-5 or 16 feet 



of the ground, 

 . I ^^ and clustered 



on one of the 

 highest limbs, 

 some forty feet 

 from the 



'"'ground. (Sec. 

 A, of cut). At 

 first I consider- 

 ed the place 

 beyond my 

 reach, or at 

 least I did not 

 deem it pru- 

 dent to risk hu- 

 man life for the 

 sake of cap- 

 turing a few 

 h a n d s f u 1 of 

 bees, and de- 

 cided to let the 

 erring sisters 

 go in peace. A 

 second and 

 closer investi- 

 gation of the 

 prevailing con- 

 ditions, howev- 

 er, made the undertaking appear quite feasi- 

 ble, and I proceeded in the following way: 



By means of an 18-foot ladder I could reach 

 the lower limbs, and from there I climbed, 

 with saw in hand, from limb to limb, until I 

 reached the place, B. Here the limb with the 

 suspended cluster joined the main body; and 

 by standing on this limb, and supporting my- 

 self with one hand on a higher one, I sawed 

 into the former until it began to show plain 

 signs of weakness. I then laid my hand 

 against it as far as I could reach above the 

 saw-kerf, and with a gentle push could give 

 it a downward motion. When nearly level I 

 had to change my help in the opposite direc- 

 tion. The little connection which I had left 

 when sawing had not the strength to support 

 the limb in that position; and if given its free- 

 dom then, it would have dropped down with 

 a crash, and, undoubtedly, would have made 

 sad havoc vdth the bees. To prevent this I 

 stepped on to a lower limb, from which I 



could support the moving limb sufficiently to 

 let it descend gradually to its perpendicular po- 

 sition. In this I succeeded so well that hard- 

 ly a dozen bees took wing in the whole opera- 

 tion. They simply changed from one angle 



to another. After that, hiving was an easy 

 matter. By standing on the lowest limb I 

 could just hold my hiving-box under the clus- 

 ter (see illustration), and, with a sudden jerk, 

 lodged them in the box. The box was then 

 hung on the limb right under my feet, and, 

 keeping up a continual joggle, as the editor 

 says, for a short time, I soon had the swarm 

 quietly settled in the box. From the ladder I 

 had easy access to the box, so that the final 

 transfer to the hive was the work of a few 

 minutes. 



Naples, N. Y. 



[Your plan will work well providing the tree 

 does not happen to be a beautiful shade-tree on 

 a front lawn, or, worse still, in the yard of a 

 neighbor. Bees seem to have a fashion of 

 clustering, in most cases, on trees around the 

 house — such trees as we generally do not like 

 to mutilate. 



While I was at the home of W. F. Marks, 

 Chapinville, N. Y., he showed me a locust-tree 

 in the rear of his yard, at the top of which was 

 a limb some .30 ft. above the ground, where a 

 swarm clustered. Not knowing whether or 

 not he might dislodge them he took his shot- 

 gun and " let drive " two charges right in the 

 center of the cluster. It stirred things up a 

 little, and, I believe, resulted in the bees 

 abandoning the limb and clustering lower. 



If one were an expert marksman, and the 

 bees clustered on a limb no larger than one's 

 finger, he could, with a rifle, bring limb, bees, 

 and all, down. 



Some few years ago, while out hunting, I 

 coveted an oriole's nest which I saw overhang- 

 ing the water. It was impossible to reach it, 

 but, drawing up my rifle, I " drew a bead " on 

 the limb where I desired it cut, and, crack ! 

 down came the limb, cut off almost as smooth- 

 ly as it could be done with a — well, a dull 

 knife. I do not suppose I could have done 

 the thing again, even if I had fired a dozen 

 times. But it occurred to me that one might, 

 with a large enough bullet, thus bring down a 

 swarm not otherwise accessible. — Ed.] 



