MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.-NO. 10 . 
211 
the best of seasons; and in case of loss of crop, as 
is the case this year, are doomed to the most horri¬ 
ble of all deaths for the unpardonable crime of hav¬ 
ing been born in poverty. And yet these very 
“Lords and gentlemen,” not satisfied with this 
wretched condition of their own laborers, cry out 
for the vengeance of Heaven on us, because we have 
in this country a class of laborers, who as mere 
laborers, and taken as a whole, are the best fed, 
best clothed, best housed, lightest worked, and best 
provided for in sickness, ol any class of laborers 
on earth; but then they are called slaves !!/ And 
that word goes up into the nostrils of European 
aristocracy so strong, that they cannot snuff up the 
dying groans of their own famine stricken, starving, 
dying laborers. Vengeance cannot sleep for ever. 
And the time is fast coming when these down-trod¬ 
den millions will feed their tyrant oppressors with 
large doses of the first dish of the Editor’s table for 
this month. For this discovery in the art of manu¬ 
facturing a substitute for gunpowder, will place 
destructive power ere long in many hands that 
never possessed it before. 
And here with a dish of gun-cotton before your 
readers, I will close my review of this month. I 
hope none of them will feel disposed for anything 
that I have said, to apply the match, while I take 
a snooze , and blow up your. Reviewer. 
MANAGEMENT O*HONEY-BEES.—No. 10. 
Symptoms of Swarming .—The symptoms of 
swarming, to a certainty, can never be defined. 
Some have pretended to define the signs, by “royal 
piping,” &c., but it is sufficient to know that there 
is an excess of bees in the hive, enough to equal an 
ordinary swarm, to know that a swarm may be ex¬ 
pected ; but the hive in all cases must be densely 
crowded, before we need look for swarms. In hot 
sultry days, from 10 to 4 o’clock, is the usual time 
for issuing. As “ a watched pot never boils,” so a 
watched bee-hive never swarms. I once watched 
my hives, on a day that I felt morally sure that 
swarms would come off’, and about 5 o’clock P. M. 
a few minutes after I had given them up for the 
day the cry of “ bees swarming ” came upon my 
ears. They rushed out like a tornado, and clus¬ 
tered upon a grape vine within ten feet of the hive. 
We may look for swarms after a storm when the 
sun is powerful, and the wind low. As I said be¬ 
fore, the old queen always goes oft’ with the first 
swarm. This is a provision of nature that calls for 
our admiration. The old queen is capable of imme¬ 
diately commencing laying the eggs for the young 
brood, whereas the young princesses await im¬ 
pregnation from the drones, which delays breeding 
for a short time. The first swarm with the old, 
queen is placed entirely out of danger, as far as re¬ 
gards their future safety, from the want of suffi¬ 
cient numbers, for their general prosperity; while 
the second and third swarms are always in a pre¬ 
carious condition, from losing a portion of the best 
of the honey-harvest, and by the time their queen 
is fairly at work, in bringing forward a young 
brood, the season is so far gone, that nothing can 
be gathered by them when mature. This, then, is 
a provision of nature to ensure a perpetuity of their 
species. 
The best thing for bees to cluster upon, and which 
is a particular favorite with them, is a grape-vine. 
I have a very large one a few feet from my hives, 
and three out of four swarms cluster upon it. 
There should be plenty of small trees and shrub¬ 
bery around every apiary. Peach-trees are very 
good. Where there are not sufficient small trees for 
them to cluster upon, there is great danger of los¬ 
ing the bees. The trees should be placed rather 
more to the north, south, and east, than to the west 
of hives, and some rods distant if convenient; as 
the bees move slowly with the wind generally, till 
they find a clustering place, unless there is a favorite 
vine near the hive, and the wind is seldom east 
when they swarm, as that denotes unsettled weather. 
Every person keeping bees should be fully pre¬ 
pared on the arrival of the swarming season, with 
everything ready and in order. His hives should 
be clean, and placed where they can be used at a 
moment’s notice. I rub a little honey on the in¬ 
side of my hives a day or two before I use them, 
but nothing else, and I am not sure but good new 
hives are just as well without anything. I have 
hived both ways, and lost none in either case. The 
next thing wanted at hand is a common pine table, 
or any one suited to be knocked about under trees. 
An old blanket to spread over it is also wanted, and 
a few pieces of wood, say an inch thick, to rest the 
hive on. Then a good wing or long window-brush 
should be among the articles. Lastly, a bee-dress 
is necessary, unless you are unstingable. The best 
dress that. I know of, to be prepared easily, is a cap 
made of musketoe-netting to cover the entire head 
and neck, and a piece of isinglass sewed in front 
to look throuedi. With this over my head and a 
handkerchief tied over it around my neck, coat but¬ 
toned up to the chin, and a pair of long woollen 
gloves on, I care as little about the danger, as I 
would if they were so many flies. 
There are some bees that never sting, or appear 
to have little or no spirit of defence, but they are 
your half-starved sickly things; patented out of 
life and vigor. Give me your furious dashing bees, 
that will strike around your ears, like the pelting 
of hail in a tempest, when one invades their domi¬ 
cils, and it is a sure guarantee of success. 
In swarming have nothing to do with bells and 
tin pans. All the ringing and jingling in the world 
would never keep a swarm from going off, if it in¬ 
tended to go. If you have suitable shrubbery 
around the hives, you have nothing to fear. They 
will cluster unless driven by the wind beyond the 
range of trees; then there is danger. When clus¬ 
tered, take your table and set directly under the 
bees, spread your cloth, bring out your hive, put it 
at one end of the table, put the blocks under the 
side towards the bees , raise it one inch, shake the 
bees off to fall directly in front of the hive, and they 
will run in rapidly. Continue shaking or brushing 
off the bees till they all settle around the hive. 
When the cluster is high and difficult to get at, the 
branch may be sawed off, and then dislodge the bees 
on the table. They will run several feet to a hive 
without rising on the wing, and if a part only fall 
near the hive, those in the air will settle down with 
them. I have placed a table 6 or 10 feet below 
the swarm, and then placed a loose blanket or large 
bag under my ordinary blanket in order to save the 
fall, and succeeded very well. The most quiet 
