228 NATURAL SWARMING. 



found ill separate clusters, and might easily be put into dif- 

 ferent hives. 



If the Apiarist fears that another swarm will issue, to unite 

 with the one lie is hiving, he may cover the latter from the 

 sight of other swarms, with a sheet. 



438. If, while hiving a swarm, he wishes to secure the 

 queen, the bees should be shaken from the hiving-basket or 

 sack, a foot or more from the hive^ when a quick eye will 

 generally see her as she passes over the sheet. If the bees 

 are reluctant to go in, a few must be directed to the entrance, 

 and care be taken to brush thein back, when they press for- 

 ward in such dense masses that the cjueeii is likely to enter 

 unobserved. An experienced eye readily detects her peculiar 

 color and form (100). 



It is interesting to witness how speedily a queen passes 

 into the hive, as soon as she recognizes the joyful note (76) 

 announcing that her colony has found a home. She quickly 

 follows in the direction of the moving mass, and her long 

 legs enable her easily to outstrip, in the race for possession, 

 all who attempt to follow her. Other bees linger around the 

 entrance, or fly into the air, or collect in listless knots on the 

 sheet; but a fertile mother, with an air of conscious import- 

 ance, marches straight foi-ward, and looking neither to the 

 right hand nor to the left, glides into the hive with the same 

 dispatchful haste that characterizes a bee returning fully 

 laden from the nectar-bearing fields. 



439. Swarms sometimes come off when no suitable hives 

 are in readiness to receive them. In such an emergency, hive 

 them in any old box, cask, or measure, and place them, with 

 suitable protection against the sun, where their new hive is to 

 stand; when this is ready, they may, by a quick, jerking mo- 

 lion, be easily shaken out before it, on a hiving-sheet. 



Persons unaccustomed to bees may think that we speak 

 about "scooping them up," and "shaking them out," almost 

 as coolly as though giving directions to measure so many 

 bushels of wheat; experience will soon convince them that 



