ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 191 



colony is, to sprinkle between the combs, a quarter 

 of an hour before driving, some weak syrup, made 

 of one pound of sugar to one pint of water. A wine- 

 glassful will be enough to use for one hive, as too 

 large a quantity might seriously wet the bees, and 

 perhaps glue their wings and limbs harmfully. After 

 settling down in their new home, they will be 

 occupied with clearing themselves and each other 

 of the syrup, which will serve also the purpose of 

 still further replenishing their honey-bags. 



It is difficult to get the bees to leave by drumming 

 a hive only partly filled with comb. They will cluster 

 about the unoccupied portions, and resolutely refuse 

 to go. In this case they may be ejected on to a 

 sheet, spread to receive them, by three or four sharp 

 jerks in a downward direction. 



It is advisable not to drive a colony after very hot 

 weather, and when there is a great in-take of honey : 

 otherwise some of the liquid will begin to flow out of 

 the cells when the-skep is inverted, and will cause 

 much trouble and waste, and possibly the destruction 

 of many bees by drowning them in their trickling 

 stores. It will be better to wait till the next morn- 

 ing, when evaporation and the coolness of the night 

 will have thickened the liquid sufficiently for it to 

 remain in the cells during the manipulation. The 

 combs, also, will have become firmer, and less liable 

 to fall, with the diminished temperature. 



The operation of driving from skeps is abundantly 

 practised by apiarians, in the autumn, among the 

 hives of those cottagers who would otherwise follow 

 the old and most barbarous plan of killing their 

 bees to take the honey. Several stocks of bees thus 



