A 
Von. LXXIII, No. 42G: 
BEES A-SWARMIN’. 
Make Them Feel At Home. 
F you are watching out along in June when the 
flowers are in full bloom and the bees under the 
old apple tree are finding their Winter quarters 
crowded, so that the "old folks” are thinking serious¬ 
ly of hunting up a new flat and leaving the young¬ 
sters in possession of the old home, you may hear 
and see a commotion in the air about the hives that 
will warn you to he on hand lest your tenants arise 
and depart without your knowledge. Very likely 
scouts have been spying out the land for some days 
and when the Calebs and Joshuas of the hive re- 
else may hive them, for the law of custom is that 
a stray swarm belongs to its captor. 
If you are forehanded, and of course you are, you 
have already set an empty hive fitted up with 
frames and foundation, or clean old combs, in some 
convenient place, and your bee gloves, hat and 
veil are at hand where no time need be lost in get¬ 
ting into them. If you are an old timer, or a bit 
inclined to be vain of your fearlessness, you may 
dispense with these protectors; but don’t, it is never 
safe and sometimes disastrous. Be thankful if the 
swarm has settled upon a shrub or low-hanging 
branch where it may be reached from the ground 
or a step-ladder; but if it hasn't, get a ladder and 
sess and insure their remaining till night, after 
which they are not apt to leave. A spray of water 
thrown into the tree in which they are clustered will 
also help to hold them until their new quarters can 
be made ready or help secured. Rees are not in¬ 
clined to wander in the face of what seems to them 
an approaching storm. 
If you have not secured the queen, however, your 
work has been in vain, for as soon as the bees 
discover her absence out they will go in search of 
her. She may have dropped into the grass or be 
hidden in a small cluster of bees still in the tree. 
Wherever she is. if not disabled, the bees will find 
her and again cluster about her to give you prob- 
TIIE “UNEARNED INCREMENT” OF THE BEES. 
turn with reports of bounteous fields of bloom on the 
far-away hills and convenient hollow trees in neigh¬ 
boring woods, trunks are packed, good-byes are 
said and only a pleasant morning, with no threat 
of rain, is awaited for a general exodus to a new 
home where another family may be reared and the 
bee population assured of its proper increase. 
But, if you are watching, the new swarm, which 
is really an old swarm, for it is the old queen with 
enough of her faithful retainers to establish her in 
a new kingdom, may usually be seen to alight in 
some nearby tree or shrub before finally quitting 
the scene of their old activities. And now is the 
time to secure them, for if they again take wing 
they may go miles before alighting and someone 
saw, or a basket, unless you have a swarm-catch¬ 
ing device mounted upon a pole, and climbing to the 
bees, gently shake them into the basket held under¬ 
neath, or saw off the limb upon which they are 
clustered and carry them to the empty hive where 
they may be dumped or shaken upon a cloth that 
has previously been spread before it. 
The bees seem at once to recognize that here is a 
new home such as they started out to seek, and 
without the loss of a moment, they begin to pour 
into the entrance. If. in your awkwardness or 
timidity, you have not failed to secure the queen, 
they will probably stay, but a little artificial rain 
made with the aid of water bucket and dipper will 
tend to quench any wanderlust that they still pos- 
370 . 
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ably another opportunity to secure the swarm. Now 
you will be less nervous, for you have discovered 
that swarming bees, each with its load of provisions 
for the new home, are not at all inclined to sting. 
You will be more careful to secure practically all 
the bees, including the queen, and unless their pro¬ 
posed home is in some way distasteful to them, you 
may count upon their ratifying your choice and set¬ 
tling down to housekeeping again. m. b. dean. 
R. N.-Y.—Swarming bees seem a mystery to those 
unacquainted with their habits, and in past genera¬ 
tions many quaint superstitions were connected with 
them. The custom of telling family news of birth, 
death or marriage to the bees, lest they desei*t their 
hive, still persists in some parts of England. 
