800 
SWARMING 
S. D. Chapman of near Mancelona, Mich., and his method of hiving swarms with a forked pole and a 
bushel basket. 
hooked from the end of the pole. It may 
now be dumped in front of the hive where 
it is to be placed. In all probability a few 
more bees may cluster back on the old spot. 
If so, the operation is repeated, after which 
the second bunch of bees is placed where 
the first was dumped. 
THE SWARM-HIVING HOOK. 
With most of the liiving-devices a hiving- 
hook can be used to considerable advantage 
at times. It is simply an iron hook mounted 
on the end of a long pole, and resembling, 
somewhat, a shepherd’s crook. One of the 
hiving-devices is passed beneath the swarm. 
This hook can be used to reach over, grasp 
the limb on which the swarm is clustered, 
and by one or two smart jerks jar the bees 
into the basket, bag, or box. 
spray-pump for controlling swarms 
WHILE IN THE AIR. 
One of the most useful implements in 
the apiary when queens are not clipped is 
a good hand force-pump. A swarm of 
bees in the air with a queen that might 
otherwise circle about for fifteen or twenty 
minutes can usually be made to cluster in 
from two to five minutes by its use. 
Whether the fine particles of water dampen 
the wings, and so impede their flight, or 
cause the bees to think it is raining, or 
both, and that therefore they had better 
cluster at once, can not be proved; but 
certainly the spray has a very decided 
effect. One who becomes moderately ex¬ 
pert will be able not only to make the bees 
settle but to compel them to clustdt on some 
point easily accessible to any of the ordi¬ 
nary hiving-devices just described. Occa¬ 
sionally a swarm will make for the top of a 
tall tree. With a pump they can be headed 
off, causing them to settle on a lower 
branch. Even when a swarm is clustered 
twenty or thirty feet from the ground, by 
adjusting the stream nozzle and letting it 
play directly on the swarm itself, it can, 
many times, be dislodged, thus causing the 
bees to take wing and finally settle again 
upon a lower limb or bush. Again, sev¬ 
eral swarms may come out simultaneously, 
and two or more attempt to cluster to¬ 
gether. By the timely use of the spray, 
each swarm can be kept separate by damp¬ 
ening the wings of the stragglers of the 
two swarms about to come together. A 
good many times a swarm that is about to 
abscond can be headed off and made to 
cluster. 
THE SWARM-CATCHER. 
This is simply a large wire-cloth cage, in 
the shape of an oblong box, about three or 
