THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Hiving Swarms of Bees. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



My aviiary is located in an apple 

 orchard in wliicli there are no limbs 

 that cannot be reached by means of 

 a ladder. My hiving implements are 

 two clothes baskets lined with cotton 

 cloth, and furnished with burlap cov- 

 ers sewed fast at one side. I might 

 remark, parenthetically, that a long 

 basket, like a clothes basket, is better 

 than a round basket for taking down 

 swarms, as the bees often form long 

 clusters lengthwise of the branches. 

 I also have a step-ladder, a pair of 

 heavy pruning shears (with these, 

 small branches can be severed more 

 easily and with less jar than with a 

 knife or saw), a line-tooth saw for 

 cutting large limbs (I do not often 

 use the saw, as I am opposed to cut- 

 ting large limbs from the trees). I 

 also use a quart dipper, a fountain 

 pump, two large tin pails, and if the 

 apiary was not located near a small 

 stream,.! should add to the above a 

 barrel for holding water. 



When a swarm begins to issue, I 

 carry a hive to the stand that I wish 

 the swarm to occupy, and prepare the 

 hive for occupancy. When the bees 

 begin to cluster, Imake an examina- 

 tion to see if they are clustering in a 

 favorable location for shaking them 

 into a basket. If they have selected a 

 spot where two or rdore limbs cross, 

 or small branches are interlaced, I 

 take the shears and clip away some 

 of the branches, and thus secure the 

 cluster in a convenient location for 

 dislodgement. 



If the bees are slow in clustering, 

 at a time when more swarms are 

 momentarily expected, I sometimes 

 hasten matters by sprinkling the liv- 

 ing bees, by using the spraying at- 

 tachment of the pump. When the 

 bees are fairly clustered, I first detach 

 a small portion of them that perhaps 

 are adhering to some small twig, and 

 carry them, still adhering to the twig, 

 and place them at the entrance of the 

 liive, without dislodging them from 

 the twig. These bees at once com- 

 mence running in and setting up that 

 joyful hum announcing that they 

 have found a home ; and when the 

 rest of the swarm is brought and 

 shaken down in front of the hive, this 

 humming at the entrance calls in the 

 swarm at once ; while, if the swarm is 

 shaken down without this precaution, 

 a large portion of the bees often take 

 wing, perhaps the queen among the 

 number, before the entrance to the 

 hive is discovered, and the fact an- 

 nounced by joyful humming. 



Many of the bees that take wing go 

 back and cluster where they originally 

 clustered, and if the queen takes wing 

 she may go with them. If there is no 

 small cluster that can be readily de- 



tached, I then dip off a quart of bees 

 from the lower part of the cluster 

 and pour them down at the entrance 

 of tlie hive. After some of the bees 

 are running ill at the entrance of the 

 hive, I hold a b;isket close under tlie 

 cluster and shake the bees into it with 

 a quick shake, throw the burlap cover 

 over the basket to prevent any of the 

 bees from leaving, carry the basket to 

 the hive, strike one end of the basket 

 sharply upon the ground '2 or 3 times, 

 which will shake all the bees to one 

 end, and dislodge them froai the 

 cover ; throw back the cover and 

 shake the bees out upon the ground 

 in front of the hive. 



I do not sliake them against the 

 front of the hive, as the entrance 

 would at once become clogged ; but 

 perhaps 18'inches or 2 feet from the 

 hive. I do not sit right down by the 

 liive and drive the bees in with a 

 smoker, and keep a constant watch 

 that the entrance is not stopped up, 

 but I do go occasionally and see how 

 things are progressing ; and, if there 

 is a great mass of bees clustered over 

 the entrance, I poke them away and 

 thus clean the way for another in- 

 stallment of bees to enter. 



There is a great difference in swarms 

 as regards the agility with which they 

 will enter the hive. Occasionally 

 there is a laggard that never gets in- 

 side the hive until the coolness of 

 night, or till the bee-keeper with a 

 smoker drives it in. If the bees clus- 

 ter upon a small branch that I am 

 willing to sacrifice, I cut it oft' and 

 put it with the bees in front of the 

 hive. 



The fountain pump is a favorite 

 implement witli me. With it and 

 plenty of water it is next to an im- 

 possibility for a swarm to abscond. I 

 have had 3 or 4 swarms try to leave, 

 but I compelled them to stay, and in 

 one instance there were no trees near, 

 and they clustered upon so small a 

 shrub that I was obliged to hold it 

 up until they had finished clustering, 

 as it was too small to support their 

 weight. 



In controlling a swarm in the air, 

 the spraying attachment should not 

 be used, as the water cannot be 

 thrown far enough ; but by using the 

 nozzle attachment, and giving a 

 swinging or sweeping movement to 

 the arm as the stream is thrown, the 

 water is so scattered that it falls in 

 a shower. The pump is also useful 

 in preventing swarms from uniting. 

 Only yesterday I had two swarms 

 issue at the same time from hives 

 only about 20 feet apart ; and yet I 

 kept them from uniting, and induced 

 them to cluster in trees several rods 

 apart. I did this by keeping a con- 

 stant spray of water between the 

 swarms as they came out and circled 

 in the air ; and sometimes I almost 

 despaired of accomplishing the ob- 

 ject, but I persevered and succeeded. 



Among the colonies purchased dur- 

 ing last year and this season, were 

 some having queens with clipped 

 wings, and I had more trouble with 

 swarms from their colonies than from 

 those with queens having unclipped 

 wings. If the swarm is not seen the 

 moment it issues, the queen sometimes 



gets out of the hive and crawls and 

 hops some little distance away, and 

 while looking for her, one is liable to 

 step on her. The bees circle about 

 for a long time, and if another swarm 

 issues they are almost certain to join 

 it. When they do finally decide to 

 return, they sometimes make a mis- 

 take and enter the wrong hive or 

 hives ; and when they do find the 

 riglit hive they sometimes cluster all 

 over the outside of it instead of going 

 in. When the queen is released, as 

 the bees are going in, she sometimes 

 comes out again, after having entered 

 the hive, thinking, perhaps, that she 

 has not swarmed ; when, of course, 

 the bees follow her. Placing the 

 caged queen at the entrance of the 

 hive aids the bees in finding the hive. 

 Rogersville, Mich. 



For tlie American Bee JournaL 



Collecting Honey Plants. 



CLARENCE M. WEED. 



Honey plants are every year be- 

 coming of more importance to apiar- 

 ists ; as new portions of the country 

 become settled, and the marshes of 

 older portions are brought into culti- 

 vation, ihe conditions surrounding 

 honey production are much changed. 

 Hence an acquaintance witli honey- 

 producing plants is also becoming 

 more important, that all such may be 

 preserved where tliey are now grow- 

 ing in waste and out-of the-way 

 places, and planted where they are 

 not growing. In view of this, as 

 equally of many other facts, a few 

 directions for collecting and preserv- 

 ing such plants may be of service. 

 As most of the Fair managers now 

 offer premiums for such collections, 

 young people interested in bees and 

 bee-keeping would derive both pleas- 

 ure and profit from making and ex- 

 hibiting them. 



Whenever possible, collect when the 

 plants are dry ; if they are wet, more 

 labor is required and poorer speci- 

 mens obtained. Where the plants 

 are to be carried some distance, some 

 sort of a tin box is useful in prevent- 

 ing wilting. As a guide to the most 

 important honey -producing plants 

 and time of flowering of each, noth- 

 ing is better than the list in Prof. 

 Cook's Manual. In all cases where 

 practicable, the fruit as well as the 

 root, or a portion thereof, should be 

 preserved. 



DuYiNc;.— For drying, old news- 

 papers w'ill suflice, but thick felt 

 carpet-paper cut into sheets, called 

 driers, 12 by 18 inches, are much pref- 

 erable. Enough for the purpose can 

 be obtained at any stationers or 

 carpet dealers for a few cents. For 

 holding the plants while drying, a 

 sheet of thin paper, (a newspaper is 

 good), twice the size of the dryers is 

 folded once. These are called speci- 

 men sheets, and into them the plants 

 are placed as soon as possible after 

 being gathered. Between each speci- 

 men sheet 2 or 3 driers are placed, 

 and over the whole a heavy weight 

 transmits pressure through a board 

 slightly larger than the driers. For 



