392 



THE AMERICA]N BEE JOURNAL. 



evening, but an old queen is seldom 

 guilty of such Indiscretion. 



There is nothing more exhilarating 

 to the bee-keeper, or anything that 

 sends the blood tingling to his toes 

 and finger tips than to hear the cry, 

 "The bees are swarming." All is 

 activity and life. A clean, sweet hive 

 is in readiness, and a place chosen for 

 it to stand. As soon as they are 

 fairly clustered, if they are on the 

 limb of a tree not valuable, it is either 

 cut or sawed off, and carried to the 

 hive, where they are gently shaken 

 off on a sheet or board in front of it. 

 If they do not readily find the en- 

 trance, they are scooped up, and put 

 In it, or driven with a little smoke. 

 Soon the watchword is sounded, a 

 home is found, and they take up the 

 march, seeming to see which can en- 

 ter it first. If the queen does not 

 enter the hive, remaining in the por- 

 tico or on the outside of the hive, the 

 bees will come out and cluster with 

 her. A little attention should be 

 given them until they are all in the 

 hive and at work. 



Bees always cluster when they 

 swarm, near their old hive, and send 

 out scouts to find a home. If they 

 are not hived before their return, 

 they will immediately dissolve and 

 follow their leaders, and no induce- 

 ment their owner mayofler will cause 

 them to settle. 



Bees sometimes desert after they 

 are hived, and when they issue from 

 their new quarters take French-leave, 

 and do not cluster. If a frame of un- 

 capped brood is given them when 

 hived, they seldom, if ever, abscond. 

 There are many reasons why bees 

 leave after hiving; the hive may be 

 hot from standing in the sun before 

 the bees were put into it ; or it may 

 have had too little ventilation. Charm 

 them ever so wisely, and they will not 

 accept a liive malodorous from kero- 

 sene or barn yard smells. A swarm 

 put into a clean, sweet, cool hive, and 

 set in the shade, will show its appre- 

 ciation of it by going to work with an 

 energy that is surprising. 



There are many devices used in 

 hiving bees. Some prefer a light box 

 perforated with auger holes, and fixed 

 on to the end of a pole, which is 

 placed underneath, or at the side of 

 the cluster. The bees will enter the 

 holes, and gather in or upon it, and 

 can be carried to their hive. Others 

 use a sack, kept open by a wire, and 

 fastened to a pole. 



Many bee-keepers practice clipping 

 the queens' wings. When the swarm 

 issues, she may be found hoppiug 

 around in front of the old hive, and 

 as soon as the bees find out that she 

 is not with them, they return and 

 search for her. The old hive could 

 be removed ; but a new one should be 

 put in its place, which the bees will 

 enter when they return. They can 

 then be removed to a new stand, and 

 the old one returned. Sometimes the 

 clipped queen is onged and put where 

 it is desired to have the bees cluster, 

 and they will soon ascertain where 

 she is, and gather there. 



If decoy hives are placed in trees 

 near bee-pasturage, a swarm may 

 move into it during the season. Some 



persons object to this, as not being a 

 legitimate way to obtain bees, but we 

 fail to see any objection to it, as the 

 bees would have entered some hollow 

 tree, and been lost to their owner even 

 if this hive had not been provided for 

 them. A person living on the prairie 

 and owning 3 colonies of bees, lost 

 them all during the severe winter of 

 lS80-81,and let his hives remain where 

 they were standing. The next summer 

 absconding swarms, finding no hollow 

 trees, filled them all. 

 Peoria,© Ills. 



Official Report of U. S. Entomologist. 



Bees Ts, Frnit— Experiments. 



N. W. M'LAIN. 



[The following is an extract from 

 the Oflicial Eeport of Mr. McLain to 

 the United States Entomologist, for 

 the year 1886, and now just issued by 

 the Department of Agriculture, at 

 Washington, in its "Reports of ob- 

 servations and experiments in the 

 practical Work of the Division, made 

 under the direction of the Entomolo- 

 gist."— Ed.1 



I have, according to your instruc- 

 tions, repeated my experiments of last 

 year for testing the capacity of bees, 

 under exceptional circumstances, to 

 injure fruit ; adding such other tests 

 and observations as the very severe 

 and protracted drouth permitted. The 

 house used last season, 10 feet by 16 

 feet in size, having sides partly cov- 

 ered with wire cloth and large screen 

 doors in each end, was used again this 

 year. Two colonies of Italian bees, 

 two of hybrids, one of Caucasians, 

 and two of Syrians were confined in 

 this house. 



These colonies were without food 

 in their hives, and at intervals of 

 three or four days were fed a little 

 syrup for the purpose of keeping up 

 their vigor, and to prevent dying 

 from starvation. A wood-stove was 

 placed in the house, and a high tem- 

 perature was maintained for a num- 

 ber of hours each day. 



The conditions incident to an un- 

 usually severe and protracted drouth 

 were present within and without. The 

 bees Were repeatedly brought to the 

 stages of hunger, thirst, and starva- 

 tion, the test continuing for forty 

 days. 



Through the favor of Mr. T. T. 

 Lyon, President of the Michigan 

 State Horticultural Society, I obtained 

 thirteen varieties of choice grapes 

 from A. G. Gulley, of South Haven. 

 Every inducement and opportunity 

 was afforded the bees to appease their 

 hunger and thirst by attacking the 

 fruit which was placed before them. 

 Some of the bunches of grapes were 

 dipped in syrup and hung in the 

 hives between the combs, some 

 placed before the hives on plates, and 

 grapes were suspended in clusters 

 from the posts and rafters. The bees 

 lapped and sucked all the syrup from 

 the skins, leaving the berries smooth. 



They daily visited the grapes in 

 great numbers, and took advantage 

 of every crack in the epidermis or 

 opening at the stem, appropriating to 

 their use every drop of juice exuding 

 therefrom, but they made no attempt 

 to grasp the cuticle with their mandi- 

 bles or claws. I removed the epider- 

 mis carefully from dozens of grapes 

 of various kinds, and placed them on 

 plates before the hives. The bees 

 lapped up all the juice on the outside 

 of the film surrounding the segments 

 of the grape, leaving this delicate film 

 dry and shining, but through and be- 

 yond this film they were not able to 

 penetrate. I punctured the skins of 

 grapes of all kinds by passing needles 

 of various sizes through the grape 

 and placed these before the bees. 

 The needles used were in size from a 

 fine cambric needle to a packing 

 needle. The amount of juice appro- 

 priated was in proportion to the size 

 of the opening in the skins, and the 

 number of segments of the grape 

 broken. The same was true in the 

 case of grapes burst from over-ripe- 

 ness. Bees are not only unable to 

 penetrate the epidermis of the grape, 

 but they also appear to be unable, 

 even when impelled by the direst 

 necessity, to penetrate the film sur- 

 rounding the berry, even after the 

 epidermis is removed. Grapes so 

 prepared, without exception laid be- 

 fore the hives until dried up. If but 

 one segment of a grape be broken by 

 violence or by over-ripeness, the bees 

 are unable to reach the juice beyond 

 the film separating the broken from 

 the unbroken segments until further 

 violence or decay permits an entrance 

 for the tongue. Clusters of sound 

 grapes which I hung between the 

 comb frames in the hives occupied by 

 strong colonies were unbroken and 

 sound after fifteen days' exposure in 

 the hives. The skins were polished 

 smooth, but none were broken. I 

 also stopped up the entrance to sev- 

 seral hives — containing good-sized 

 colonies— in the apiary and in the 

 wire-covei'cd house, by pushing sound 

 grapes into the opening, so close to- 

 gether that the bees could not pass 

 through. By this means the bees 

 were confined to the hives for days in 

 succession, not being able to break 

 down and remove the grapes, and 

 although the skins of the grapes next 

 the inside of the hive were polished 

 smooth none were broken or injured. 



The past season furnished an ex- 

 cellent opportunity to observe the 

 capacity of bees, under so exceptional 

 circumstances, to injure fruit, for the 

 drouth was very exceptional both in 

 duration and severity, and I was 

 called to several places by fruit-grow- 

 ers to witness the proof that bees 

 were " tearing open the skins of the 

 grapes,'' and otherwise behaving in a 

 manner altogether unworthy of an 

 insect enjoying a wide reputation for 

 virtue and orderly living. In each 

 instance I succeeded in convincing 

 the fruit-grower that the bees were 

 simply performing the office of glean- 

 ers ; that violence from other sources, 

 or over-ripeness or decay had pre- 

 ceded the bees, and that he would be 

 acting the part of wisdom in follow- 



