256 EVERY MAN HIS OWN FARRIER 



settled, and the hive being left underneath, they will 

 all go in ; or cut the branch off, and gently place it in 

 the hive. Should the bees settle on the ground, place 

 the hive over them ; and though bees are not apt to 

 sting at this time, the hiving should be performed 

 quietly. Avoid talking and breathing on them, and 

 if any of them are crushed, they will resent it; there- 

 fore, to prevent abcident, invariably use the bee dress, 

 which will give confidence. All swarms are to be 

 sheltered and left near to where they settle till the 

 evening ; thence to be removed very gently to the ap- 

 pointed place. 



To unite swarms^ and reinforce stocks. 



It is essential when there are weak swarms of bees, 

 that they should be strengthened. The idea, so preva- 

 lent, of the greatest number of hives producing the 

 most honey and wax, is erroneous ; for the great part 

 of the bees are necessarily employed in rearing the 

 young, and therefore the number of those who are 

 occupied in collecting honey is not near so great as 

 has been imagined ; for every swarm, the least as well 

 as the greatest, is provided with a queen, equal in 

 fecundity to the queen of the large stock, and as the 

 brood she brings continually demands the labour and 

 attendance of nearly half the bees, this circumstance 

 renders the other moiety, from the smallness of their 

 number, unable to accumulate a large quantity of ho- 

 ney in the short time it mostly abounds, and therefore 

 honey cannot be obtained in glass hives or otherwise, 

 but from a strongly-peopled hive. 



Hive the swarms or casts in the usual way, and at 

 about eight o'clock the same evening spread a cloth 

 on the ground, near to the hive required to be rein- 



