AND CATTLE DOCTOH. 257 



forced ; bring the new swarm, and strike it down 

 rather hard, flat on the ground. The bees will then 

 fall in a cluster ; quickly place over them the stock to 

 be reinforced ; in ten minutes they will have united 

 and become as one family, to be removed ^the same 

 evening to its former situation. 



Or, each cast or swarm may be hived separately. 

 In the evening, turn the crown of the hive into a pail, 

 and set the other hive exactly over it ; in the morn- 

 ing, the bees from the bottom hive will have ascended. 



The system of uniting, so very important, is but 

 little practiced, and has been overlooked by many 

 cultivators ; but it is absolutely necessary to have the 

 hives well peopled and completely sheltered from wet, 

 which are the principal and main objects to be parti- 

 cularly attended to in the art of bee keeping ; and the 

 advantages of uniting swarms will be found particu- 

 larly beneficial in working the glasses with the newly 

 invented double-topped hives. 



To feed bees. 



With the aid of feeding it is perfectly easy to bring 

 any hive of bees through the winter ; but to ensure the 

 success of a very light stock, it is essential to keep it 

 always warm and dry. Feeding is absolutely neces- 

 sary when more honey has been taken than the hive 

 can afford, by means of small hives or glasses. Such 

 stocks as are intended to be kept through the winter 

 should weigh twenty pounds or upwards, at the end of 

 September, but casts and late swarms seldom attain 

 this weight, unless two or more should have been 

 united. The composition for feeding consists of moist 

 sugar and new beer, the proportion of one pound of 

 sugar to a pint of beer, simmered to the consistency 

 22* 



