120 THE PRACTICAL BEE GUIDE. 



bee (16). Should the queen leave the hive, and fall to the 

 ground, the bees which discover her will cluster there, and the 

 remainder will return to the hive. Should the swarm, when 

 clustered, disclose a disproportion of young or of old bees, the 

 swarm may go back, and may issue again ; and this may be 

 repeated several times, until the proper proportions are arrived 

 at. Should the scouts fail to find a suitable location before 

 sunset ; or should rain suddenly appear, the swarm may remain 

 in the original cluster until the following day. If, on the 

 other hand, the weather be hot, and if the cluster be left un- 

 sheltered from the sun, the swarm may decamp at once, 

 without awaiting the return of the scouts. Sometimes the 

 queen, a stranger to light, and unaccustomed to fly, is unable 

 to reach the selected spot, and will drop, exhausted, on the 

 way, and the new home be started in an unsuitable place. 

 Occasionally two svvaims ccrne out at the same time and form 

 one cluster ; these should be treated as one swarm, and, on 

 being hived, one of the queens may be removed for use else- 

 where. If both queens be allowed to enter the new hive, one 

 of them will be destroyed. (See also 185b and 254C.) 



210. To Encourage Clustering The old-time custom of 



beating tin cans, in order to cause the swarm to settle quickly, 

 is possibly due to its having been observed that flying bees 

 hasten home from the fields when thunder storms threaten in 

 summer ; and, the din one sometimes hears in swarming time is 

 intended to represent the " artillery of the gods." Bees are 

 highly sensitive to the approach of rain, and will seek the 

 shelter of their hives when rain is near. But, it is very 

 probable that it is not the thunder which may precede a summer 

 shower that influences them ; and it is not likely that the noise 

 of horns and drummed cans can have much, if any, effect in 

 causing them to cluster rapidly. Water, however, may be 

 used with good effect. If applied through a garden syringe 

 which casts a fine spray, and so that it fall upon the swarming 

 bees from above, like rain, it will hasten their settling, and 

 will cause them to cluster closely, so that they may be the more 

 easily, and the more promptly secured. It is recorded that 

 truant swarms have been headed off, and impelled in the 

 required direction by this means. 



211. Truant Swarms — Swarms, when they once rise from 

 the first cluster, seldom remain in the vicinity of their former 

 homes (19). It appears to be their object to settle as far as 

 possible from the hives which they have abandoned, and to 

 leave to their successors not merely the stores there, but also 

 the flowers of the immediate vicinity. This is one of nature's 

 provisions against the mischief of in-breeding. It is often a 

 cause of disappointment and loss to the owner, who tries, in 



