SWARMING AND HIVING. 137 



abandoned; nor should the hive ever be put over the 

 bees, so as to crush any of them, or endanger the life of 

 the queen. A skillful bee-keeper, with his hiving-basket, 

 will often, hive six or more swarms, in the time required, by 

 the old plan, for hiving one ; and in large Apiaries managed 

 on the swarming plan, where a number of swarms come out 

 on the same day, and there is constant danger of their 

 mixing, this is an object of great importance. 



Dr. Scudamore, an English physician, who has written a 

 tract on the Formation of Artificial Swarms, says that he 

 once knew as " many as ten swarms go forth at once, and 

 settle and mingle together, forming, literally, a monster 

 meeting." There are instances recorded of a still larger 

 number having clustered together. A venerable cler- 

 gyman in Western Massachusetts, told me, that in the 

 Apiary of one of his parishioners, five swarms once clus- 

 tered together. As he had no hive which would hold 

 them, they were put into a large box, roughly nailed 

 together. When taken up in the Fall, it was evident that 

 the five swarmf had lived together as independent colo- 

 nies. Four had begun their works, each near a corner of 

 the box, and the fifth hi the middle ; and there was a 

 distinct interval separating the works of the different 

 colonies. In Cotton's " My Bee Book," is a cut illustrat- 

 ing a similar separation of two colonies in one hive. By 

 hiving, in a large box, swarms which have settled together, 

 and leaving them undisturbed till the following morning, 

 they would probably be found in separate clusters, and 

 might easily be put into different hives. 



Swarming bees make a singular hissing or whispering 

 sound, which often causes other hives in the Apiary to 

 swarm. This is a frequent occurrence with discouraged 

 or dissatisfied stocks, and I have occasionally had swarms 

 Avhich had only immature queens in their hive issue, on 



