684 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
Photo from “A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture,” 
by A. I. and E. R. Root 
EFFECT OF A STING NEAR THE EYE 
cept when we carried her over in the 
cage. 
We went and looked in the hive she 
came from, and there she was, true 
enough, with the bees she had brought 
with her stung to death in front and on 
the bottom-board. It is possible that the 
bees swarmed out first; but, even if they 
did, they certainly followed the queen in 
going back to her old home. We also 
know that bees sometimes follow a 
young queen when she goes out to take 
her wedding-flight. 
It is our opinion that neither queen 
nor workers alone make the first start, 
but all hands join together and act in 
concert. 
While it is true that a swarm will issue 
without any previous preparation when 
a swarming craze is on in the yard, the 
great majority of colonies preparing to 
swarm send out scouts, or prospectors. 
These bees hunt up cavities in hollow 
trees, or even seek out empty hives, and 
commence “cleaning house”. The num- 
ber of scouts having located a home will 
increase until there appears to be quite a 
little swarm, and sometimes one is led 
to believe there is a case of robbing go- 
ing on, especially if the scouts have 
entered an empty hive containing combs. 
They will continue to make their visita- 
tions day by day, and in the meantime 
they busy themselves by cleaning house. 
When the day comes for the swarm 
to issue, the scouts appear to make it 
their business to lead the flying. bees to 
this new location. Just how they do this 
cannot be definitely shown; but that they 
do lead these swarms to particular 
abodes has been so clearly proven that 
there is no further question about it. 
This shows why a swarm will sometimes 
“light out” without even clustering. 
Following the lead of their scouts, they 
will go directly to their new home, which 
has been already prepared. 
As a general rule a swarm clusters 
first. Whether this is for the purpose 
of getting the scouting party “organized” 
and into action no one knows. If the 
scouts have not already found a location, 
it is possible that the clustered swarm 
is sending out some scouts to prospect; 
and, having found a hollow tree, they 
will go back to the cluster, when all will 
“hike” for the new home. 
While these may be fanciful sugges- 
tions, it may account for the reason why 
a swarm will sometimes hang on a tree 
for several days, the inference being that 
the scouts have failed to locate any suit- 
able home. 
BEES DO NOT INJURE SOUND FRUIT 
Every now and then we hear com- 
plaints of how bees will attack and eat 
up fruit; and, to a casual observer, at 
least, they apparently do bite through the 
skin and extract the juices until the 
specimen is shriveled up to a mere sem- 
blance of its former shape and size. 
Careful investigation has shown repeat- 
edly that bees never attack sound fruit, 
no matter how soft the skin nor how 
juicy and pulpy the contents within the 
skin. 
The authors have had, during the past 
30 years, between 300 and 400 colonies 
EE 
