Fig. 60.—A Swarm.
And now, when the main body of the emigrants has issued from their quarters, the whole air seems alive with the excited, flitting, buzzing insects. The noise of their humming can be heard for many yards away, and a novice may well wonder what is to be the end of the commotion. Ordinarily, however, within a few minutes, after their exodus, it will be observed that a gathering of a thicker crowd is taking place at some particular spot most frequently on some low tree or bush. There her majesty has settled, and at once her loyal subjects assemble around her, and form a living cluster. Quickly, from all sides, they continue to gather, and in a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes a dense mass will be hanging one to the other, till it seems wonderful the queen and those in the interior of the living ball are not suffocated.
Fig. 61.—"Tanging."
In country places it is still the custom to beat warming-pans, tin kettles, frying-pans, or other unmusical vessels, with keys or sticks or hammers, while the bees are swarming, under the idea that the noise makes them settle the more quickly. That any effect is produced on the insects is not any longer believed by apiarians; and there is good reason for thinking that the origin of the practice was altogether different from its supposed use. The probability is, that it indicated at first nothing more than that some one wished to proclaim to the neighbours the fact of his bees having swarmed, so that he might lay claim to them wherever they might settle.
It sometimes happens that the inclination to cease flying is delayed beyond the usual time. It is said by Langstroth that the throwing of a few handfuls of dust into the air, or the flashing of sunlight by a mirror among the bees, will have the effect of bringing them down. Vergil, nineteen centuries ago, pointed out that, in what he called their battles, but which were probably only the confusions of swarming, the flinging of dust or earth among them would have a quieting effect.
Sometimes, unfortunately, a strong and wayward queen will lead off her colony far beyond the precincts of the apiary in which she has been living. The writer has, during the past season (1883), had to regret the vagaries of such a queen, who, the previous year, came into his possession through her abandoning her former master, without giving any clue as to her ownership; and this year, after twice settling, and being once hived, within some two hundred yards of the apiary, took wing again, and was entirely lost, though followed more than half a mile. Few things are more vexing to the bee-keeper than such mishaps; and it becomes necessary to take all precautions which are possible against them. When, therefore, a swarm has once decidedly gathered into a cluster, it should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun; for the excitement, the close massing, combined with the natural warmth of the surrounding air, will raise greatly the temperature of the mass; and, to escape suffocation, a second flight is sometimes undertaken. A wet sheet, an umbrella, a sack supported on stout sticks, and many another simple expedient will answer the purpose of promoting a requisite coolness.
Next, immediate preparations should be made for hiving. As a rule, bees, when swarming, are very good-tempered, because they are gorged; and, like Englishmen, improve in disposition under the influence of good food. Some curious stories, indeed, have been told of the perfect inoffensiveness of these insects when thus forming a colony. We will give two of these, narrated by Bevan.
A gentleman wishing to hive a swarm that had settled on the branch of an apple-tree, gave the hive in which he was going to place them into the hands of a maid-servant She, being a novice, and somewhat timid, covered her head and shoulders with a cloth, to protect her face. On shaking the tree, most of the bees fell upon the cloth, and quickly crept under it, covering the girl's chest and neck up to her very chin. Her master instantly impressed her with the necessity of being perfectly quiet, and refraining from all buffeting, while he began to search for the queen. Having found her majesty, he gently removed her; but, to his disappointment, the swarm showed no signs of following her. Suspecting at once that there was a second queen in the cluster, he made another search, and found his supposition was correct. On securing her, and placing her with a small cluster of bees in the hive, the rest followed in crowds, till, in two or three minutes, not a single one was left on the girl, who was thus relieved from her anxious, and what might have proved most dangerous position, had she excited and alarmed the insects.