200 MANAGEMENT IN SWARMING. 



entering with their sovereign, as if aware of the danger 

 of such intrusion. This is rather a perplexing state 

 of things, and the best remedy we can suggest, is in- 

 stantly to carry off the hive into which the queen has 

 strayed, and to substitute in its place the one from 

 which she had issued. The bees will readily enter ; 

 after which the two hives may be restored to their 

 former places. If the strayed queen does not reappear 

 in a very few minutes, we may conclude she has fallen 

 a victim to her error ; and the owner may console 

 himself with the knowledge that the swarm will come 

 off again in a very few days, with another queen. 



Two swarms sometimes leave their hives at the same 

 time, and in such cases almost always go together. If 

 they are second swarms, it will be better to let them 

 remain so ; they will, when thus united, form a strong 

 stock, and will collect much more honey than they 

 could have done separately. If they are first swarms, 

 and the season is not far advanced, it will be expe- 

 dient to separate them ; and for this purpose, let the 

 whole mass be first received into an empty hive, and 

 then, spreading a sheet on the floor of an empty apart- 

 ment from which the light is partially excluded, let 

 the hive be placed on it ; a smart stroke on the top 

 will send them down in a mass upon the sheet, and 

 the bees, in a minute or two, will be observed col- 

 lected into two groups, in the centre of each of which 

 will be found a queen. Place an empty hive gently 

 over each group, raising one side, that the bees may 

 have easy access ; and when housed, remove them to 

 their proper stations, which should be some consider- 



