BUSY BEES. 99 



queens. They are still confined, and are strongly 

 guarded by the workers, who bore holes in the cells, 

 through which openings they pass the food. The old 

 queen hears the piping of the royal prisoners, and be- 

 comes greatly excited ; and from jealousy would de- 

 stroy them if she could. Then a large portion of the 

 bees fill themselves with honey, and joining the old 

 queen, in a dense, whirling body leave the hive, and 

 cluster, it may be, on some branch from which they 

 are carefully swept into a basket, and are then put 

 into a new hive. 



It is when the new swarm bursts forth, that some 

 people in the country raise a cry and a din with tin 

 pans and cow-bells, hoping by this means to make the 

 bees settle. Precisely this same practice was common 

 among the Romans more than two thousand years 

 ago. The old fashioned hive in this country is a piece 

 of a hollow tree, called a "gum." In Europe it is 

 made of straw, and has the shape of a little dome and 

 is quite picturesque. 



The Romans used a hollow cork-tree. Our improved 

 hives have movable frames in which the bees make 

 their comb, as shown on page 94. In the lower part 

 of the hive are the brood combs and some of the 

 honey. In the upper part, in nice frames, in glass 

 boxes, or in other receptacles, the bees store their 

 surplus honey, and in these it is easily removed. 



With the improved hives, the wild swarming and the 

 music of the tin pan may be prevented. Some of the 

 frames containing brood-comb may be gently taken out 

 and set into a new hive. The old queen may be found 

 and transferred to the new home ; or a queen cell, near 



