A second swarm proved to be bent on emigrating, for on six consecutive days it left as many different hives. Each time it was brought to anchor by the looking-glass, &c. The last time the bees fell as if shot dead, at the flash and report. And for aught I know and saw, they might have kept trying to this day.
In some rare cases, however, I have failed to bring the swarm to settle.
My bees have swarmed heavily this year, and for a rarity seemed to select the tops of the highest trees to settle on, and then would often leave for the woods after hiving. Query, was there any connection between the two facts?
The early season, here, was superior for honey, up to the blooming of the white clover, which was very scarce, and almost devoid of honey. The weather has been hot and dry, and no honey since.
There has been no honey-dew since the war near me; whilst a large piece of woods, three miles off, seemed, two years ago, to be literally flowing with honey-dew, and alive with bees. The tract was three miles wide and five miles long, and alive with bees, throughout its whole extent, every day for several weeks. Did the bees of the country gather there?
Your paper is read with intense interest. Long may it live to contribute to the pleasure and profit of bee-keepers.
J. B. Townley.
Red Hill Depot, Albemarle Co., Va.
[For the American Bee Journal.]