1876 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



341 



NATURAL. STTAUMING AND ITS AT- 

 TENDANT CLUSTERING. 



^|ijpR. EDITOR :— When bees swarm naturally, why 

 Jl^/i li. ^'^ *^®y collect together on some object and not 



' fly directly to the woods after leaving the parent 



hive ? This was a question which excited my juvenile 

 attention when I was but 10 years of age. 



The ancient and honored custom of ringing bells, beat- 

 ing on tin pans and other sounding things, I had often 

 noticed, and to my childish mind it appeared to be 

 all important in stopping the swarm when on the 

 wing. It happened that the family were absent at 

 church on one occasion and I at home, lolling on the 

 greensward or playing among fruit trees and roses, when 

 the bees swarmed and clustered as readily as they could 

 have done if all the Callilhumpian troupe had been 

 there on duty ; and I had the pleasure afterwards of 

 boasting to papa that I had hived the bees without i oise 

 or assistance. He said some persons borrowed excite- 

 ment from the agitation and roaring of the swarai, and 

 rang bells more from an ecstatic impulse than from a 

 sense of its necessity ; and he had no objection to such 

 persons thus enjoying themselves, but that it had about 

 as much to do in settling bees as that jargon of trum- 

 pets, gongs and horns used by the ancient heathen, had 

 in frightening away the evil genius that eclipsed the sun as 

 they supposed. It was manifest to my young mind that 

 there was a cause for bees fixing on bushes or other ob- 

 jects and after observation I established the fact long 

 before Langstroth threw out the suggestion, of a reconnio- 

 tering party. 



The bee is impelled in all its operations by instinct alone, 

 which in some cases is so remarkable that some authors 

 have attributed to them the power of rational conception. 



When a swarm issues from a parent hive, either with 

 an old or a young queen, they appear confused until they 

 cluster, when they become docile and quiet. Why did 

 they cluster there? Because they were homeless and 

 would be wanderers, and instinct directs them to so- 

 journ awhile until a set of explorers shall have discovered 

 some cavity in chft or tree suitable for a future habita- 

 tion. A number of scouts varying from 30 to 50 leave the 

 swarm before it is fairly settled, to explore the country in 

 search of a cavity suitable for the propagation of their 

 species, which is the end and aim of all insect creation. 

 If these scouts are not successful, the swarm may be hiv- 

 ed and permitted to remain in the same place and do 

 well ; but if they are successful, and on returning find 

 the swarm where they left it, or near the place, they will 

 immediately lead it away. Queen, workers, drones, all 

 take wing, rise high in the air and abandon old home, 

 kin and every thing forever, and no effort of the bee- 

 keeper can arrest them. This result of a successful scout 

 is as sure to transpire as night to follow the day. Perhaps 

 one in an hundred mil go straight to the forest without 

 lixiiig on any thing, but in such cases they have been de- 

 hyed from some unknown cause in swarming, been lying 

 outside the parent hive, and have selected their future 

 home before issuing forth. I hnve seen that occur three 

 times myself, and they move differently from the abscond- 

 ing bees that have clustered before starting. IS'ow those 

 runaways went strai^'ht out of the hive to a hollow 

 tree, moving slowly and near the ground, scarcely above 

 your head and I followed all of them to their place of 

 abode, once on foot, twice on horse back and did very 

 onsily keep pace with them ; they took a '■'bee line" from 

 the hives to the hollow trees not exceeding a half mile off. 

 I suppose all such hive found a hollow near 

 by. I noticed a revolving lot of bees in each, about five 

 f3<'t Ihvoudi, lo idin^ the van with a his5ing sound not 

 unlike ih3 sound cf bees wh2n einsoerated— that sound 



is in plain contrast with the roaring of the great body of 

 bees that bring up the body or rear of the drove, and it is 

 that peculiar sound that makes bees frantic with the im- 

 pulse to follow it, and they can not be prevented short of 

 actual destruction . 



I will remind the reader here that bees have different 

 sounds to accomplish different ends. The only natural 

 sound of bees on the wing is that revealed by the returning 

 laborer at even when she comes laden with spoils col- 

 lected from some flowery field. Who has not been 

 charmed by such industrious energy, as those mellow 

 tones die in the entrance of the hive. The shrill note of 

 the pugnacious defender of the hive is familiar to every 

 child. The sharp sound of bees just beginning to lead 

 out a swarm heralds its advent to the apiarist and is very 

 different from the two former sounds. The coarse bass 

 roaring of the swarm before it begins to cluster, is only 

 heard when they are in search of the queen, and is kept 

 up by both workers and drones ; then follows the sharp 

 cutting sound as they begin to cluster, to call the colony 

 together, which is well known to the bee-keeper as the 

 signal of congregating. Then the shrill hissing sound of 

 the escort that leads them to the woods blends with the 

 roar of the rear part of the swarm making a strange com- 

 pound heard only from absconding bees. Then again that 

 "happy hour" when they have found a house, made by a 

 peculiar position of body and indicating peace and con- 

 tentment. Also a sound of distress when annoyed by 

 smoke or enemies, rings through the hive, and no wail of 

 distress from any other insect tribe can equal it ; and 

 finally we have the ventilating sound at the entrance and 

 all through the hive, which in hot weather may be heard 

 quite a distance. All these different sounds are instinct- 

 ively associated with certain purposes, and the movements 

 of the queen are generally governed by them. She thus 

 follows certain sounds as do the whole colony. She never 

 leads the swarm, but is attracted by the roaring mass and 

 when she follows into a new hive an air of quiet, which 

 security affords, follows. If she is lost or has stayed, 

 after awhile her faithful children will leave the hivo 

 and in wild confusion look for their mother, giving out a 

 sound of despair differing from all other sounds. 



In settling this dense forest country — Mississippi river 

 bottom — I deadened large tracts of land for future cotton 

 fields. I found many bee trees in these deadenings when 

 divested of foliage. In winter time I would cut them 

 down, saw out a segment of the tree, including the hive 

 when it was not smashed by the falling. They were 

 placed upright as they originally stood and left to swarm 

 next spring. Having iO or 50 such stands I made a spec- 

 ialty of seeing them every day between 10 and 2 o'clock, 

 during swarming time, and saved many new colonies. In 

 riding one day through the deadening, I heard the shriU 

 noise of escort bees and soon discovered about 50, circling 

 around a tree, ascending to the branches, then going to 

 the nearest tree and circling, descending to the very roots, 

 and continuing ascending and descending from one tree 

 to another, taking in saplings even, until I was led by 

 them unconsciously to one of my bee tree colonies ; and 

 there hung a swarm in the bough of a small tree, and into 

 that swarm they went. I was sure that was a band of 

 bee scouts and believing they had returned without find- 

 ing a hollow tree I hived Ihim, and to tost my theory let 

 them remain on the spot. They did well. Thus Mr. Ed- 

 itor I deduce the following conclusions which I know to 

 be practically useful to the bee-keeper who prefers natu- 

 ral swai-ming : 1st, they cluster to afford opportunity 

 for the explorers to find a nsw habitation. Many times 

 they fail to find one, and in that case alone tlio new hiv.> 

 may be permitted to remain where they cluslcred ; bv.t if 

 the explorers lind a home they rotiUict the whole colony 

 dirccily to it ; 2d, as the swarrn is v.-a'.cliin? for th3 



