40 



ABVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



he eventually becomes master of the sit- 

 uation. I clung to the plan of allowing 

 queens to accompany swarms, until I was 

 forced to abandon it. The loss from 

 absconding swarms was too great. Bees 

 do not always stay hived after they are 

 hived, and when they swarm out in this 

 manner, they frequently do not cluster 

 again, but make directly for parts un- 

 known. It is true that an absconding 

 swarm can usually be stopped by throw- 

 water with a fountain pump, if the 

 swarm is seen when first starting off, and 

 there is plenty of water handy, some one 

 to bring it, and the bee-keeper is not so 

 busied just then trying to straighten out 

 a "snarl" of four or five colonies that 

 have mixed themselves together. 



In a large apiary, in which the queens 

 are allowed to accompany the swarms, 

 water is the great agent by which the 

 bees can be controlled. Quite a number 

 of large pails should be keep filled with 

 water and scattered about in different 

 parts of the apiary. There should also 

 be three or four barrels of water, in dif- 

 ferent parts of the apiary. Waiting one- 

 quarter of a minute for water, sometimes 

 means the loss of a swarm. Sometimes 

 swarms go beyond the limits of the apiary; 

 then two persons are really needed; one 

 to carry water, and the other to work the 

 pump. Whitman fountain pump is the 

 best. With this a stream of water can be 

 thrown a distance of thirty or forty feet. 

 If two swarms issue at the same time they 

 can frequently be kept apart by the use 

 of the pump. It is not necessary to 

 throw a stream of water directly into the 

 center of the swarm, but along one side 

 of it, with a sort of sweeping movement 

 of the arm, that makes the stream fall 

 in a sort of shower. The bees dislike 

 the water and edge away from it. In 

 this way they can be driven in any di- 

 rection. Two or three pails of water 

 thrown in this manner upon a swarm 

 seems to disconcert them, and they then 

 begin to look for some alighting place. 

 If the operator once has a swarm well in 

 hand, and there is plenty of water at 



hand and he knows how to use it, it is 

 well nigh impossible for the swarm to get 

 away. 



Unless the queens are clipped, or the 

 queen trap is used, there should be no 

 tall trees near the apiary, as the swarms 

 will go where it will be difficult, even 

 dangerous, to get them. It should be 

 possible to reach the tops of the trees with 

 a long, light ladder. If the tops are no 

 higher than can be reached with a step 

 ladder, so much the better. Besides the 

 pails of water, fountain pump, and lad- 

 ders, the bee-keeper will need three or 

 four baskets. Clothes baskets are ex- 

 cellent. Upon one side should be sewed 

 a cover of burlap. When the swarm has 

 been shaken into the basket, the cover 

 can be thrown over the top of the basket 

 and will keep the bees from flying out. 

 Blocks of wood nailed to the corners of 

 the cover hold it from being blown off or 

 from dropping down into the basket, 

 should the bees cluster upon the cover. 

 If set in a cool place, a swarm may be 

 left in such a basket several hours. 

 When the hive is in readiness to receive 

 the swarm, the cover to the basket may 

 be turned back and the bees shaken down 

 in front of the hive. A few of the bees 

 soon find the entrance and set up their 

 "call" of a home is found, when the 

 others follow them into the hive. If 

 another swarm comes out and attempts 

 to join the one just entering its hive, a 

 large sheet may be thrown over the hive. 

 Where several swarms come out at the 

 same time and unite, the best that can 

 be done is to divide them up as nearly 

 equal as possible into several swarms. 

 When a. queen is found she is to be caged. 

 Any swarm that has no queen will soon 

 show its queenlessness by its restlessness. 

 The bees will begin running out of the 

 hive and taking wing. One of the caged 

 queens should be given such a swarm, 

 when, as by magic, the bees will change 

 their behavior. 



When the bee-keeper has all of the 

 swarms out that he can possibly manage, 

 there is one infallible method of prevent- 



