1877. 



riLEANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



ASSCOIVBZKa SVfrATiNLS. Pei- 



Jiaps iiothiii}? is more afi^ravatiiif; in bee 

 culture, than to have your bees all on a sud- 

 den "light out" for parts unknown without 

 so much as stopping to give you a parting 

 -word of farewell, or a single token of recog- 

 nition of the debt they owe you in the 

 •ishape of gratitude for your past kindnesses 

 in providing thein with a home, shelter, &e. 

 Perhaps no other part of animated creation 

 exhibits a greater love of home, than does 

 the honey bee ; no matter liow humble or 

 uninviting the surroundings, they seem 

 much attached to their home as they parade 

 in front of their door-Avay after a hard day's 

 work, plainly indicating that they have a 

 keen idea of the rights of ownership, and 

 exhibiting a willingness to give their lives 

 freely if need be in defence of their hard 

 earned stores. It seems ditKcult to under- 

 stand liow they can ever consent to abandon 

 it all, and with such sudden impulse, and 

 common consent. No matter if they have 

 never seen or heard of such a thing as a hol- 

 low tree, but have for innumerable bee gen- 

 erations been domesticated in hives made 

 by human hands, none the less have they 

 that instinctive longing that prompts them 

 to seek the forest, as soon as they get loose 

 from the chains of domestication. It is pos- 

 sible that the bees as they go out foraging, 

 keep an eye out for desirable places for 

 starting new homes, and it maybe that they 

 have the hollow trees picked out some time 

 before they decide to leave. Many incidents 

 have been reported that point out pretty 

 clearly such to be the case. We once found 

 our bees working strongly on a particular 

 locality about a mile and a half from the 

 apiary, where the white clover was bloom- 

 ing with most unusual luxuriance. Very 

 soon after, a colony swarmed and tlie bees 

 after pouring out of the hive took a direct 

 line for a tree in this clover field, without so 

 much as making any attempt to cluster at 

 all. Did they not figure out the advantage 

 of having only a few rods instead of over a 

 mile to carry their honey, after having pa- 

 tiently gathered it from the blossoms little 

 by little y Perhaps it will be well to remark 

 here, that it is very unusual for a swarm to 

 go to the woods without clustering; they 

 usually hang from 15 minutes to an hour, 

 and many times several hours ; we have in 

 fact known them to hang over night, but 

 perhaps it would be well to take care of 

 them inside of 15 or 20 minutes, if we would 

 make sure of them. Long before swarming 

 time, hives should all be in readiness, and 



they should also be located just where the 

 ufiw colony is to stand, with the sawdust, 

 grape vines, or whatever we decide to have, 

 all in nice trim. If you are going to have a 

 model apiary, please do not think of waiting 

 until the bees swarm, bef<n-e yoii lay it out, 

 biit take time by the forelock, and with care- 

 ful deliberation, decide where every hive 

 shall be before it is peopled with bees, if you 

 wish to keep ahead and keep your bees from 

 taking "French leave." 



But they sometimes go off even after they 

 fiave been carefully hived, some will say. 

 We are well aware they do often go off after 

 being hived ; sometimes the same, and some- 

 times the next day, but are you siu'e the hi- 

 ving was carefully done ? We never feel 

 satisfied unless we have given the new^ 

 sw^arm at least one comb containing unseal- 

 ed brood, and we have never had a swarm 

 desert a hive when thus furnished, nor have 

 we ever heard of one's doing so. With such 

 hives as we shall describe, it is a very simple 

 task, and takes but a minnte to open a hive 

 and get such a comb. And besides, if by 

 any chance you should fail to get the queen 

 when you hive the swarm, they would be 

 supplied with the means of rearing another. 



This plan of giving them unsealed brood, 

 does very well if you can once get them into 

 the hive, but it is necessarily somewhat like 

 the one of catching birds with a handful of 

 salt ; how are we to obviate losing the occa- 

 sional swarm that goes off without cluster- 

 ing at all V Or the quite frequent cases of 

 coming out imobserved or when no one is 

 at home V AVe are happy to say there is a 

 very certain and sure remedy, for all cases of 

 first swarming, in having the wings of the 

 queen clipped so she can not fly ; this plan 

 is in very general use and answers excellent- 

 ly for all first swarms ; but alas, the after 

 swarms are the very ones that are most apt 

 to abscond and we can not clip the wings of 

 their queens, because they have not yet taken 

 their wedding flight. What shall we do V 

 Candidly I don't know of any better w^ay 

 than to watch carefully when they are to be 

 expected and then chase after them, climb 

 trees, &c., mitil they are once got safely into 

 a hive. If you think this too much trouble, 

 prevent having after swarms as we have ad- 

 vised under that head. 



Clipping the wings of the ([ueen prevents 

 losing first sw^arms by absconding, it is true, 

 but it does not always prevent losing the 

 queen. She goes out with the bees as usual, 

 and after hopping about in front of the hive 

 sometimes gets ready to go back at about 



