The Wichita daily eagle., 1901-06-01
BIG BEE INVASION
Thousands Swarm on Doug
las Avenue.
NOISE DIDN'T WIN THEM
Drayman Caught Them on a
Green Branch.

Queer things happen in wichita A few
weeks ago a Jack rabbit was seen run
ming down Douglas avenue. last fall a
wolf trotted up south Main street and
not long ago a bull snake took notion to
camp on the steps Of the postOfhce. Yes
terday a big colony Of bees swarmed on
the intersection Of Douglas avenue and
Lawrence avenue.
shortly after noon, B. S. Hovey. the
author Of that new financial theory, saV
what seemed TO be a small cloud lowering.
At about the same time that colored jan
itor with the goo goo eyes down at
shaw's barber shop spotted them. It
soon became evident that the supposed
cloud was a troop OF bees looking for
place TO swarm. Like all other shrewd
and sensible beings they selected the
heart Of Wichita. for a business location
Right at this point Of the sons Of
Shem and Ham came into conflict again
Mr. HOvey ran up Lawrence avenue and
tearing branch off a cottonwood tree,
ran down to Where the bees were circulat-
lng in the aig and raising his green branch
above his head waited for the bees to
swarm on 1t. The dark man with the
goo goo eyes knew very well, or thought
he did that the best way to hypnotic the
bees was to make a noise. He found the
head Of a cheese box and began pounding
,,-s+F- d, +r~ao+oa oa1 Epl1v
taking. an interest in the black side Of the
contest. ran up to him excitedly and urg-
ed him TO get a c0Wbeu. Some white
men got branches of cottonwood and in
side Of a few minutes the center Of
Douglas avenue was like cottonwood
grove.
open street cars came along and ran
into the bee colony and the motorman
and all the passengers stampeded. Some
bicycle fellows came along and ran into
the buzz When the queen got good and
ready she lit on a cottonwood branch held
By q drayman and ali her subjects follow
ed suit He placed them all into bar
rel in his wagon and waited till dark to
take them home.
There We're about three quarts Of bees
in the exodus and as a pint measure is
capable of containing 450O of the insects,
the entire catch aggregated 1900.
The balance Of the afternoon in that
section of the city was devoted to dis
cussion Of the habits. characteristics,
government, politics and domestic econo-
my of the bee. Pat Rohrbaugh came
along and said: "a swarm Of bees in
May is worth load Of hay; a swarm of
bees in June isn't worth spoon; a
swarm IN July isn't worth a fly.
And then everybody all at once remem-
bered that it was the last day in May and
that the swarm had come just in time to
be worth that load of hay.
Everybody agreed that the bee was
peculiar insect and many were the stor-
les told about it. Albert Cross heard all
the stories and didn't believe more than
one per cent Of them.
The bee reporter for the Eagle learned
the following facts:
The first thing the new swarm viii do IS
TO organize a permanent kingdom, or
rather queendom. They are divided into
drones and workers with one queen pre-
siding over all The droues are those
that have abdomens like barrels, the
queen has a long abdomen like the spear
of boys top while the workers abdo-
mems are like acorns-
After swarming they begin the erection
of a hive and in that a royal palace for
the queen. They are great architects.
Some of the workers viii go out and get
their feet tangled up in the resin Of pine
boards or trees and fly back to the hive.
Other workers VIII take the resin of
their feet and use it in stopping up any
chinks or cracks that may be in the place
and that would cause their queen to con
tract u case Of pneumonia The frame
work of the structure completed they win
begin the decoration OF the royal palace.
AT the age of q days that queen must
set married or there viii he no young
bees next year The drones are making
love 10 her in the meantime. When her
matrimonial day comes she spreads her
wings ana takes fight hieh into the air.
in an hour or SO she comes back married
but, strange To say. a widow; for no
queen bee has ever failed 10 KIN her hus-
band during the honeymoon. The queen
bee is probably the only mother on earth
th5t knows in advance what the sex of
her children viii be. In one place she
lays the eggs that VIII hatch drones and
81 another place the eggs that viii hatch
cut the workers. Then the bees in the
tribe. by some unknown art. VIII select
q lot of both kinds Of egss and have them
hatch out queen bees. After the swarm
1ng season is over the workers cause a
general slaughter Of the drones and If
they don't eat the bodies which they gen
orally do. they VIII pitch them out OF. the
hive.
When the young queens ere Matched out
the mother queen becomes their deadly
enemy. for she regards them as rivals for
her kingdom. The result IS that the
workers Imprison them in little callaboos-
rs with such small opening that the
prisoner can only stick their tougues out
- set their food. In the meantime the
queen mother must ue watched closely
Tor during the night there is danger of
her getting up in her night dress, going
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