BEE CATCHING

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 12, 4 January 1924, Page 4

BEE CATCHING

AMUSING METHODS. What on earth would one do with a box of bees 40,000 of the little beggars, all armed with nasty stings, tipped, like their temper, with venom? Very few people would regard that sort of procession as an asset. Quite the contrary. Yet in Tuam street, Christchurch, there was fierce competition for a swarm. It buzzed outside a timber yard, and while it held up traffic valiant attempts were made to snare it (states the Sun). Bees wandering at large on the public highway may be snared; at least t.he law says so. But the Statute in such case made and provided doesn’t explain how the enticing process may be carried out. Of course, one might walk into the midst of a swarm, pocket the queen, and walk away. In this instance you would be certain that the bees would follow you. But this method has its disadvantages. Several gentlemen tried the oldfashioned method of beating a petrol tin. The bees, attracted by the pretty strains, gather round and come to hand, as it were. That’s the theory. But perhaps there were too many tin beaters. Anyway, the bees turned deaf ears to the charmers. Then a new competitor appeared on the scene. He had a box | (for the bees) and a motor honker. i Obviously be had read an account of i the manner a swarm responded to the I strains of a syren in a passing motor | car. But alack and alas ! He honked 1 and honked, but he didn’t even attract j a sting. And rival harvesters beat i tins, and the imitation of a popular ! jazz melody as interpreted by a fiance \ orchestra was splendid. Realism was ’ the keynote. But the bees refused to ! dance. Meanwhile, a motorist or so | darted through the swarm, with hats I pulled over their faces, but horses refused to face the danger zone, and a ■hint of this was generally enough for the drivers. They turned right about. The band was in full blast when the queen bee made up her mind that she had had enough of it. So she hopped it, heading towards the Public Garj dens. And in ten minutes not a bee I was to be seen.