TO STORIFYING HIVES OR BOXES. 149 



may be known by the loud humming noise by 

 which it will be accompanied. 



I have said that the above plan is only to be 

 recommended in cases of recent swarming : by this 

 I mean, in swarms of the day on which it is at- 

 tempted, and before any works are constructed in 

 the hives, to such an extent as to make the bees 

 tenacious of their new habitation ; for wherever 

 they form a settlement, though even for the short 

 time that they occupy a bush or tree before 

 hiving, there are always to be seen the rudiments 

 of one or more combs, showing, that they always 

 intend, (so far as one can give bees credit for 

 intention,) to take up their abode, permanently, 

 upon the very spot on which they first cluster 

 round their Royal Leader. 



If however, from want of forethought or from 

 any other causes, a swarm have been allowed, for 

 a longer period, to occupy a hive from which it is 

 desirable to dislodge it, in that case I would re- 

 commend the apiarian, towards night, to place the 

 hive upon a middle board with a divider under- 

 neath it, to lute the junction with clay, so as to 

 prevent the bees from escaping, and to invert the 

 whole upon a stool that has had an opening made 

 in it of sufficient size to allow the hive to sink 

 about halfway through it. Then, if he raise a 

 couple of empty boxes upon the divider, in the 

 manner already directed for super-hiving, and 



