SWARMING AND HIVING. 129 



who, having never seen a swarm hived, are apt to imagine 

 that the process must be quite formidable. Experience in 

 this, as in other things, will speedily give them the requi- 

 site skill and confidence ; and the cry of " the bees are 

 swarming," will often be hailed with even greater pleasure 

 than an invitation to a sumptuous banquet. 



The hives for the new swarms should be painted long 

 enough beforehand to be thoroughly dry. The smell of 

 fresh paint is well known to be very injurious to human 

 beings, and is so detested by bees, that they will often 

 desert a new hive sooner than endure it. If the hives 

 cannot be seasonably painted, paints should be used which 

 contain no white-lead, and which are mixed so as to dry 

 as quickly as possible. 



The following recipe, taken from the Bienenzeitung, for 

 a cheap and durable paint, for rough hives, is said to be 

 preferable to oil paint : " Two parts, by measure, of fine 

 sand, well sifted ; one of best English cement* ; one of 

 curd, from which the whey has been well expressed ; one 

 of buttermilk. These are to be thoroughly mixed. The 

 paint is to be applied, amid repeated stirring, to the hives, 

 by means of a common paint-brush. A second coat is to 

 be given.after the lapse of half an hour. When this has 

 become thoroughly dry, which will be in two or three 

 days, it is to be brushed over lightly with a thin coat of 

 boiled linseed oil, to which any desirable color may be 

 given. The boards to which the paint is to be applied 

 should not be planed, but remain rough as the saw leaves 

 them. No more of the paint should be prepared at any 

 one time, than can be used in the course of half an hour, 

 as it quickly hardens. The hive may be used as soon as 

 the paint stiffens." 



Hives that have stood in the sun, ought never to be 



* Boman, or common Hydraulic cement is probably meant, or would answer. 



6* 



