AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
203 
a deserted hive full of comb, in which were hun¬ 
dreds of worms and cocoons. The owner had been 
pursuing a let-alone policy, and was about as much 
of a public benefactor as if he had sown his gar¬ 
den with Canada thistles. He had the good sense 
however, to condemn the whole concern to the 
flames as soon as he saw the evil he was bring¬ 
ing on himself and on the neighborhood. It is a 
wrong idea that the eggs of the moth are hatch¬ 
ed only by the heat of the bees, and that there is 
no danger if the warmth of the hive is intercept¬ 
ed. Though unable to affirm that the worms may 
be hatched and matured in the open air, exposed 
to the rain, dew and sunshine, we know that in 
sheltered places, in upper boxes, and in houses, 
there is nothing to prevent their coming to matur¬ 
ity, if they have their appropriate food. 
A strong colony of bees in a well construct¬ 
ed hive can protect themselves. They can guard 
the entrance, and can cover their combs suffi¬ 
ciently to avert all danger. But a weak stock 
works at a disadvantage, and especially if their 
hive has cracks and crevices where the young of 
the moth are somewhat out of the way. It does 
one good, however, to see the promptness with 
which a worm is drummed out of the camp, when 
the bees have once brought their forces to bear 
upon it. 
There are other insects that give trouble to the 
bees within the hive, but not sufficiently impor¬ 
tant to be noticed now: and there are enemies 
without the hive, of various kinds ; but notwith¬ 
standing them all, the bee flourishes and multi¬ 
plies exceedingly, a comfort and blessing to man, 
and a perpetual witness of the power and wisdom 
and providence of the Creator. 
-o<-—aO n»- —»-o- . 
Making Bees Swarm Artificially. 
In our last volume, page 129, we suggested a 
mode of securing artificial swarms, naming, as 
some of the advantages, that this plan enables the 
bee-keeper to obtain the new swarms at a conve¬ 
nient day and hour ; secures regular and rapid in¬ 
crease j obviates the danger of the uniting of two 
swarms going out together; enables those selling 
the increase of their stock to furnish strong 
swarms at any time agreed on, and in short saves 
time, trouble, and vexation. The outline of the 
plan described, which is essentially that of Mr. 
Langstrqth, we re-copy for the benefit of several 
recent inquirers. (These directions are of course 
too late for this season, wherever the bees are en¬ 
tirely done swarming.) 
After the drones have made their appearance, 
and when the bees are collecting honey freely, 
choose about the middle of the day when the bees 
are abroad in great numbers, and gently lift the 
hive to be operated upon and turn it upside down 
upon the ground, several feet distant from its 
usual place. Put over it a box as nearly its own 
size as possible, having within the box some slats 
or convenience of clustering, and holes covered 
with wire-cloth for ventilation ; taking care to 
cover all the cracks and entrances with paper or 
cloth so that not a bee can escape. Next, place 
an empty hive on the stand as a decoy to catch 
the bees returning from the fields. Then proceed 
to drive the bees out of the first hive into the up¬ 
per box, by constant drumming with the hands 
upon the sides to which the combs are attached. 
The bees, finding escape impossible, proceed at 
once to fill themselves with honey, and in the 
course of fifteen or twenty minutes will retreat 
with the queen to the Upper box. When the 
greater part have gone up, the box is to be quick¬ 
ly lifted and placed upon a bottom board so as to 
confine the bees, and yet furnish them with air 
If this forced swarm is to be removed to the dis¬ 
tance of a mile or more, it should be treated ex¬ 
actly like a natural swarm, while the first hive is 
set back in its original place instead of the decoy; 
the bees from the fields will be glad to regain their 
home ; a new queen will speedily be provided, 
and the maturing brood will make good the place 
of those expelled. 
The plan thus far described, we have pursued 
with gratifying success. If, however, the bee¬ 
keeper wishes to retain the forced swarm, and 
cannot send it away for some time, something 
more must be done. Mr. Langstroth confidently 
recommends a process which we have not yet 
tried. He announces as a new and important dis¬ 
covery, that “ nearly all the bees which have en¬ 
tered the decoy hive, if now presented with then- 
own, will adhere to it even when its location is 
changed.” 
His advice, then is, after the foraging bees have 
returned to the old hive, now standing in its form¬ 
er station instead of the decoy hive, take up this 
old hive and put it in a new place, and in the old 
place put the hive prepared for the forced swarm. 
Buckeye Rotating Harrow. 
We present herewith an engraving of a new 
harrow, which certainly appears to be a decided 
improvement over anything previously construct¬ 
ed. We are sorry not to have seen one in actual 
operation before this, but we have the good au¬ 
thority of our friend, Thomas Brown, of the Ohio 
Farmer, who in answer to a private letter of in¬ 
quiry, assures us that he has seen it work, and that 
it merits all that can be said of it. An examina¬ 
tion of the construction as shown in the illustra¬ 
tion will enable any one to understand its pecu¬ 
liarities and its obvious merits. 
First we have the tooth bars, halved into each 
other at the crossings of the pieces, and held to¬ 
gether by the teeth, which are fastened by a 
screw and nut upon the top. An upright shaft 
(1), is made fast to the centre of the solid cast 
plate (3), which is not very plain in the engraving. 
Around this shaft is the movable thimble (2), 
to which is fastened the draft bar (4). Attached 
to this same thimble (2), is a side bar, upon the 
end of which is a box for holding stones or 
other weights. This is kept from sagging by a 
brace, which is supported by a ring placed at the 
Shake out before it, upon a sheet, the bees forced 
into the box, and they will quickly ascend and 
make themselves at home in their new quarters ; 
and having a fertile queen will construct worker 
cells, and do in all respects as well as a natural 
swarm. If, however, the new swarm should be 
kept in by a storm, or by a temporary failure of 
the honey-harvest, it would be prudent to give 
them a little food. 
Jonas Scholl, Fayette Co., Ind., referring to the 
above, inquires if it would not do as well to drive 
the bees immediately into the hive they are to oc¬ 
cupy instead of first getting them into a box ; and 
further, would they be likely to return to the old 
hive if removed a hundred yards or so ; To 
which M. Quinby, (author of Mysteries of Bee- 
Keeping explained,) replies : “ You can drive them 
into the hive you wish them to remain in, provid¬ 
ing the hives are of similar size at the bottom. 
Unless they are carried away more than a mile, 
the most of the swarm will probably return to the 
old stand. If it is not convenient to move them 
that distance, a good way would be to set the new 
hive on the old stand, and the old hive within two 
or three feet of it.” 
top of the upright shaft (1), and turning upon it. 
It will now be seen that the weights upon one 
side will press down the teeth more upon that 
side, so that when the harrow moves forward, 
those teeth will be held back more than upon the 
other side. This will give a constant rotation to 
the teeth, so that they will move crosswise as 
well as forward, and the same side of a tooth will 
now be on the front and now in the rear. An 
important end thus gained is, that there can be 
no clogging by grass or clay. This will avoid the 
furrowing usually made by substances gathering 
upon the teeth. The zigzag or side motion of 
the teeth will also break up a/id pulverize the soil 
better than a simple forward motion. The har¬ 
row can be made to turn in either direction, by 
unhooking the horizontal rod, and swinging the 
weight box to the other side. 
The inventors, Messrs. Dewitt & Barrett, of 
Cleveland, O., claim that “ this is the strongest 
harrow built, and does not cost as much as a com¬ 
mon jointed harrow of the same size; that it 
can be operated like the common harrow, by sim 
ply taking off the weight; that the teeth sharp¬ 
en themselves by the movements in every direc¬ 
tion, & '■■ See their card in advertising columns 
