NATURAL INCREASE. 
147 
others, they go almost without exception to a wild 
plum, growing in a laurel hedge near by, which 
does not, so far as can be seen, present a more 
comfortable or convenient landing-stage than many 
dozens of trees and shrubs within sight of the stocks 
as they stand. The observed fact may, however, be 
of service to the novice who is wise enough to 
tempt his first colonists to a position of his own 
choosing; and, in this connection, what has been 
called the “ bee-bob ’’ may help in more ways than 
one. A dark-coloured mass, accidentally or inten- 
tionally resembling a forming cluster, brings to it 
bees that are intent upon not missing their com- 
panions, and these, by alighting, quickly convert 
the appearance into reality, and so the swarm is 
secured. Langstroth says : “ By proper precautions, 
before the first swarms issue, the bee-keeper may so 
educate his favourites that they will seldom alight 
anywhere but on the spot which he has previously 
selected. The Rev. Thomas Hunt, of Wyoming, U.S.A., 
has devised an amusing plan, by which he says that 
he can at all times prevent a swarm of bees from 
leaving his premises. Before his stocks swarm, he 
collects a number of dead bees, and, stringing them 
with a needle and thread, as worms are strung for 
catching eels, he makes of them a ball about the 
size of an egg, leaving a few strands loose. By 
carrying, fastened to a pole, this 'bee-bob' about 
it must here be remembered that she, except in the rarest instances, does 
not touch the object upon which the swarm settles, as it is her habit to 
clamber over the bodies of the bees. May it not be suggested that the 
swarm, even after a short stay, leaves behind shreds of wax upon the 
twigs and stems, and that these, possibly, may have an effect } 
