THE ILLINOIS F^^lRjMER. 



87 



the bees to get through the sides, it will 

 answer all the better. The bfies should 

 now be carried yery plowly to their new 

 home, and be gently shaken, or poured 

 out, on the sheet in front of it. If thej 

 seem at all reluctant to enter, take up a 

 few of them in a large spoon, (a cup 

 will answer equally well,) and shake 

 them close to the entrance. As they 

 go in, they will fan with their wings, 

 and raise a peculiar note, which commu- 

 nicates the joyful news that they have 

 found a home, to the rest of their com- 

 panions ; and in a short time, the whole 

 •warm will enter, and they are thus 

 safely hired, without injury to a single 

 bee. When bees are once shaken down 

 on the sheet, the great mass of them are 

 very unwilling to take wing again ; for 

 they are loaded down with honey, and 

 like heavily armed troops, they desire to 

 march slowly and sedately to the place 

 of encampment. If the sheet hangg in 

 folds, or is not stretched out, so as to 

 present an uninterrupted surface, they 

 are often greatly confused, and take a 

 long time to find the entrance to the 

 hive. If it is desired to have them enter 

 sooner than they are sometimes inclined 

 to do, they may be gently separated 

 with a feather or leafy twig, when they 

 cluster in bunches on the sheet. On 

 first shaking them down into the basket, 

 multitudes will again take wing» and 

 multitudes more will be left en the tree, 

 but they will speedily form a line of 

 communication with those on the sheet, 

 and enter the hive with them ; for many 

 of them will follow the Apiarian, as he 

 slowly carries the basket to the hive. 



It sometimes happens that the queen 

 is left on the tree : in this case, the bees 

 will either refuse to enter the hive, or if 

 they go in, .will speedily come out, and 

 all take wing again, to join their queen. 

 This happens much more frequently in 

 the case of after-swarms, whose young 

 queens, instead of exhibiting the gravity 

 of the old matron, are apt to be con- 

 stantly flying about, and frisking in the 

 air. When the bees cluster again on 

 the tree, the process of hiving must be 

 repeated. 



If the Apiarian has a pair of sharp 

 pruning-shears, and the limb on which 

 the bees have clustered, is of no value, 

 and so small that it may be cut -without 

 jarring them off, this may be done, and 

 the bees carried on it and then shaken 

 ofi" on the sheet. 



If the bees settle too high to be easily 

 reached, the basket should be fastened 

 to a pole, and raised directly under the 

 swarm ; a quick motion of the basket 

 will cause the mass" of the bees to fall 

 into it, when it may be carried to the 

 hive, and the bees poured out from it on 

 the sheet. 



If the bees light on the trunk of a 

 tree, or any thing from which they can- 



not easily be gathered in a basket, place 

 a leafy bough over them, (it may be fas- 

 tened with a gimlet,) and if they do not 

 mount it of their own accord, a little 

 imoke will compel them to do so. If 

 the place is inaccessible, and this is about 

 the worst case that occurs, they will en- 

 ter a basket well shaded by cotton cloth 

 fastened around it, and elevated so as to 

 rest with its open top sideways to the 

 mass of the bees. When small trees, or 

 limbs fastened into the ground, are plac- 

 ed near the hive, and there are no large 

 trees near, there will seldom be found 

 any diflBculty in hiving swarms. 



If the new hive does not stand where 

 it is to remain for the season, it should 

 bo removed to its permanent stand as 

 soon as the bees have entered, for if al- 

 lowed to remain to be removed in the 

 evening, or early next morning, the 

 scouts which hav« left the cluster, in 

 search of a hollow tree, will find the bees 

 when they return, and will often entice 

 them from the hive. There is the great- 

 er danger of this, if the bees have re- 

 mained on the tree a considerable time 

 before they were hived. I have invari- 

 ably found that swarms which abandon 

 a suitable hive for the woods, have been 

 hived near the spot where they cluster- 

 ed, and allowed to remain to be moved 

 in the evening. If the bees swarm early 

 in the day, they will generally begin to 

 work in a few hours, (or in less time, if 

 they have empty comb,) and many more 

 may be lost by returning next day to the 

 place where they were hived, than would 

 be lost by removing them as soon as 

 they had entered ; in this latter case the 

 few that are on the wing, will generally 

 be able to find the hive if it is slowly 

 moved to its permanent stand. 



Rev. L. L. Langstroth. 



In the keeping of bees white clover is 

 of great value, furnishing an abundance 

 of the most delicious honey. We have 

 sown six pounds of the seed this spring 

 for this purpose. It costs fifty cents a 

 pound, and can be had of Wilbur, Em- 

 ery & Co., 204 Lake street, Chicago. 

 Mr. Langstroth's work on bees is of 

 great value, and should be in the hands 

 of every bee keep'^r. - JEb. 



Swine. 

 Since our January number, we have said 

 nothing on the Bubject. In fact, there is 

 little to say, except to new comen among us 

 In the timber districts the hogi are allowed 

 to run at large, and the fences are made hog 

 tight,yr\ii\Q on the prairies where fencing ma- 

 oerial ii more ezpeneive, they are confined 

 to patturea of clover and grass, fed a small 

 amount of corn daily. This class of farmers 

 turn off fine porkers at an advance over the 

 land pikes, that roam through the woodland 



and prairie, running off what little fat they 

 may gain, and thus have to be turned into 

 bacon, the hams of which weigh from eight 

 to fifteen pounds. We now have excellent 

 breeds among us. Perhaps it would be dif- 

 ficult to find better anywhere. The long, 

 well-rounded Berkshire, the large and small 

 Suffolk, the short waddling China and Essex, 

 with all grades between, most of which are 

 highly creditable to our farmers, while the 

 land pike is nearly confined to the timber 

 and river bottoms of our old fogies, who are 

 better calculated for pioneers of frontier life, 

 than to make good progressive farmers; they 

 and their favorite long nosed rooters make 

 a happy blending of appearance and habits. 

 Swine need a liberal supply of sulphur 

 and coal, when kept in close confinement. — 

 The dust from our Illinois coals is good for 

 this purpose, and should be fed to them at 

 least once a week. Neglecting this precau- 

 tion last winter, we had a valuable litter of 

 young Suffolks eaten up by an old sow, who 

 had farrowed some two weeks before, and 

 upon the appearance of a litter from another 

 sow, she pounced upon the new comers, but 

 a dose of coal dust soon corrected her appe- 

 tites — too late to save the young litter.but 

 in time to save her own, which would have 

 soon shared the same fate, . 



Honey made to order — E. W. Phelps' Sectional 

 Frimc and Morable Comb live. 



Mr. H. B. Giff'ord, of Danby, DuPage 

 county, Illinois, has kindly sent us two 

 hives of the above. One a double hive 

 containing two rooms for one swarm, 

 and the other a single one filled with 

 double movable frames. This last, we 

 think, combines all the essentials of a 

 perfect hive. It is simple, efficient and 

 ornamental, which is saying enough. 

 We have the Langstroth Hive, but it is 

 not 88 convenient to get at the millers, 

 and in several respects not as good SkS 

 the one named above. 



These patent hive men talk largely 

 about infringment of patents, and may 

 be there is a great deal in it, but we sus- 

 pect the movable frame, as generally 

 used, has been in general use about long 

 enough to be excused from doing duty 

 to patent hive men. In the case 

 of the hive sent us the frame is in sec- 

 tions, which is a new improvement, so 

 says Mr. Gifford ; to this is attached a 

 moth catcher, which must be valuable. 

 On these two points Mr. Phelps claims 

 letters patent. Mr. G. is the owner for 

 most of the counties of this State. • 



Patent hives are generally held in no 



