1884. J 
151 
AMEJRIOAlSr AGEIOULTUKIST. 
Swarming, and How to Manage It. 
■w. Z. HUTCHINSON. 
We often hear the remark, “As soon as my bees 
became strong in numbers, and were working nice¬ 
ly In the boxes, they swarmed, and away went all 
prospects of a honey crop.”—This inclination to 
swarm is with many the chief obstacle to produc¬ 
ing comb honey. A few years ago non-swarming 
hives were loudly praised (by their vendors); at 
present, such nonsense would fall on deaf ears.— 
In producing extracted honey, swarming can prac¬ 
tically be prevented ; but in an apiary run for comb 
honey, it never has been prevented, probably never 
will be, and, if rightly managed, is not undesirable. 
One good method of swarming is the following: 
By shading and ventilating the hives, and sup¬ 
plying plenty of room in the surplus department, 
swarming will usually be retarded until the colonies 
have stored considerable honey in the hives and 
•are populous enough to send out large swarms, 
and a few colonies wili not swarm at all. When a 
swarm issues, set the parent hive to one side, and 
place on the old stand a new hive having its frames 
tilled with wired foundation. Then cover the new 
hive with a queen-excluding honey-board, setting 
the boxes taken from the old hive upon the new 
one; shake the clustered swarm into a basket, 
cover with a cloth, carry it to the new hive and 
shake them down in front of it. The bees will 
readily enter, and, in less than half an hour, they 
will again be at work in the same boxes they so re¬ 
cently and hastily deserted, and with that energy 
so characteristic of a new swarm. It is a great 
mistake to wait even twenty-four hours before giv¬ 
ing boxes to a newly-hived swai-rn.—As soon as 
they have fairly settled down to business, in half 
an hour perhaps, place the old’hive back alongside 
the new one, the rear ends nearly touching, but 
with the front of the old hive turned to one side 
at an angle of say forty-five degrees. All the bees 
out foraging when the swarm issued, and all after¬ 
wards leaving the old hive, will return to the old lo¬ 
cation and enter the new hive, thus “ booming” 
the new swarm already working in the boxes. By 
turning the old hive a few inches daily, it can in 
three or four days be brought parallel with and 
close to the new one. The bees of each hive will 
thereafter recognize and enter their own homes. 
These two hives practically occupy the same stand, 
and if either were removed during their absence, 
the returning bees would enter the one remaining. 
In the old hive the bees are hatching daily by 
the thousands, and in about eight days after the 
first swarm issued—when the young queens usually 
begin to hatch—the probabilities are that the old 
hive, if undisturbed, will send out another swarm. 
This is undesirable, and is prevented by removing 
the old hive to a new stand, two or three rods dis¬ 
tant, on about the sixth or seventh day from the 
first swarming. All the fiying bees belonging to it 
—enough to make quite a little swarm—on return¬ 
ing to the old location, enter the new hive, thus 
giving its colony another boom, and so reducing 
the numbers in the old hive that swarming is aban¬ 
doned, and the young queens are allowed to fight it 
out for the “survival of the fittest.” In about 
three weeks after the old hive first swarmed its 
joung queen will commence laying, when, if the 
honey flow continues, it should be given a case of 
sections. With this management there is no open¬ 
ing of hives, no hunting for and cutting out of queen 
cells, no fussing or bother. In the writer’s experi¬ 
ence, only about one colony in twenty-five has cast 
un after swarm; none of the first or prime swarms 
have swarmed ; and the amount of surplus honey 
obtained has been greater than from colonies that 
have not swarmed.—A second or after swarm can 
be hived upon frames of wired foundations, and 
the hive placed by the side of the old one; and 
as soon as the queen is fecundated and laying, 
the entire swarm can be shaken down in front 
of the old hive, and the drawn-out frames of 
foundation be set away for future use. If a third 
swarm should issue, it can be treated in the same 
manner as described above, by placing it upon the 
opposite side of the parent stock. 
In the writer’s apiary two large tin pails filled 
with water are always kept near the shop door, with 
a fountain pump hanging over them; and if a 
swarm shows any disposition to leave, or is slow in 
clustering when other swarms are expected, it re¬ 
ceives such a sprinkling that it soon “ hangs itself 
up to dry.” With such a pump and plenty of 
water it is next to impossible for a swarm to ab¬ 
scond. The implement is also useful to prevent 
uniting or clustering of swarms issuing at the same 
time. Near the tin pails stand two splint clothes 
baskets, lined with cotton cloth, and each basket is 
furnished with a burlap cover stitched to one side of 
it. As soon as a swarm has clustered it is shaken 
into one of these baskets, the cover flopped over, 
and if another swarm or something else demands 
immediate attention the basket and its contents 
can be set one side, to be disposed of at leisure. 
After seeing tbe ease with which bees can be 
managed when allowed to swarm naturally, the 
energy with which they work, and the excellent re¬ 
sults obtained, the writer is decidedly opposed to 
artificial swarming—and also to queens with clipped 
wings. In the first place, when the bees swarm, 
the queen has to be found and caged. The bees 
roam around a long time, and sometimes finally 
cluster. If another swarm comes out they are cer¬ 
tain to unite with it. When the bees do return 
they often go piling into the wrong hive, perhaps 
hives ; and if they do catch on to the proper one, 
instead of going in they often cluster all over its 
outside. Sometimes, after the queen has been al¬ 
lowed to run in she comes out again then of 
course the bees will follow her. In my experi¬ 
ence a swarm having an undipped queen can be 
hived and be at work in that “ whooping,” “ zip¬ 
ping,” go-ahead style, in just about the same time 
that it takes a swarm with a clipped queen to make 
up its mind,sullenly and doggedly, to go back home. 
Bracing Fence and Other Posts. 
Much of the efficiency of all wire fences de¬ 
pends upon having the corner posts, and other's at 
frequent intervals, firmly braced against sagging. 
A large strong post to be deeply set is not always 
available, and is generally unsightly by comparison 
with others. Various devices have been given, 
many of them depending upon stones, but these 
A CORNER POST BRACED. 
are seldom available, on the prairies especially. 
Mr. A. C. Gable, Yorkville, Ill., sends us the follow¬ 
ing method, applicable to single posts, corner 
posts and to clothes-line supports. For the latter 
purpose Mr. G. says he erected two posts twelve 
yards apart, and though in constant use for six 
years, they are erect as ever. A little below the 
ground surface, on the side of the strain, a piece of 
durable board or plank, half a foot wide, and three 
to four feet long is spiked on to the post at right 
angles; and another piece about half as large is 
spiked on the opposite side near the foot of the 
post. When the ground is well packed around 
these they will hold very firmly. The size, width, 
thickness, and the depth in the ground, will depend 
upon the lightness or compactness of the soil, and 
tbe amount of strain to be resisted. The sketch 
shows two sets of these braces for a corner post. 
For single posts in line, and clothes-line posts hav¬ 
ing a strain in only one direction, a single pair of 
cross pieces is needed. These may be of plank, 
strong boards, or short pieces cut from rails or old 
posts, and flattened to fit the sides of the upright. 
Latch for Barn Door on Hinges. 
A wooden bolt, a, slides freely through the notch 
in d, and into a notch in the upright post behind 
the weather boarding which holds it. On the other 
end a short iron strap is screwed on firmly, with its 
A BARN DOOR LATCH. 
end held by a screw on which it turns, to the lever, 
b. This lever, 6, is keyed with a nail or pin over c, 
which is the squared end of the handle, h, that 
comes through the board from the outside of the 
door. The latch, a, is drawn out of its socket by- 
seizing the lower end of b on the inside or turning 
h on the outside. The wood for all will need to be 
tough; the size of the parts to be proportioned to 
the size of the door. W. S. S. 
Early Amber in California.—Experiment. 
The necessity of a drouth-enduring crop adapted 
to the soil, climate, etc., of central and southern 
California, has led to considerable experimental 
farming of varied degrees of success, including 
the introduction of Alfalfa, Egyptian Corn, and 
other equally valuable crops. Probably nothing 
yet has so nearly filled the demand, with the small 
farmer at least, as the sorghum canes. Of these, 
the Early Amber and the Black Top seem to be the 
most noteworthy, owing to .their peculiar adapt¬ 
ability to the methods of cultivation here practised. 
Below are the precise figures on an experimental 
crop of two acres in Fresno county, the very 
centre of the State. The results are all given per 
acre, and while accurate, the expenses are much 
in excess of what are really necessary; and the 
amount realized is smaller than need be, owing to 
the inexperience of the planters, the use of de¬ 
fective machinery, and the small area worked. 
The seed was planted in May and harvested Nov. 1, 
Irrigating water before planting.$1.00 
Man to tend water half day.75 
Man with team and tools one day. .. 3.50 
Man planting seed, one day. 1.50 
Cost for planting.$ 5.75 
Cutting and hauling.$ 3.50 
Rent of mill. 3.00 
Man and horse, one day. 2.00 
Man to superintend. 2.50 
Wood used in boiling. 1.75 
Casks for syrup. 5.25 
Hauling to house. 1.00 
Cost of manufacture.. $17.00 
Total cost.$32.75 
The yield was one hundred gallons of good 
quality syrup, worthy seventy-five cents per gallon, 
or seventy-five dollars per acre, leaving a net profit 
of fifty-two dollars and twenty-five cents per acre, 
a pretty fair return on land valued at thirty dollars 
per acre. The crop was considered a fair one, and 
