ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 157 



These difficulties may be obviated by removing either 

 colony about half a mile from its former home, in which 

 case, if forage is abundant, nearly all will remain in their 

 proper hive. Some recommend that they should be car- 

 ried off at least three miles ; but I have found that this is 

 unnecessary, unless there is a deficiency of blossoms hi 

 the immediate vicinity of their new home. If the colonies 

 are carried off, the precautions given elsewhere* for mov- 

 ing bees must be carefully followed ; also the directions 

 for retaining a sufficient number of bees in the parent- 

 stock. Those' not carried off must be put on their old 

 stands. 



As the transportation of colonies is laborious, and often- 

 times expensive, I shah 1 describe the methods which, after 

 years of experimenting, I have devised for dispensing with 

 it. I have ascertained that, if a hive is removed, most 

 of the bees returning from abroad and alighting upon a 

 neighboring hive, if kindly received, will not go back to 

 their former stand. Even the temporary loss of their old 

 home is followed by a distraction which makes on them 

 such a permanent impression, that they mark their new 

 location as carefully as a new swarm. Now I find that, 

 on the same principle, nearly all the bees which have 

 returned from the fields, while a swarm is being forced 

 from the parent-hive, will enter this hive if it is put upon 

 its old stand, and adhere to it afterwards wherever it may 

 be placed. 



As soon, therefore, as the bee-keeper has forced a swarm, 

 the forcing-box must be gently lifted off, and set in a 

 shady place where the bees will have plenty of air. The 

 parent-stock should now be put, without crushing any bees, 

 on the old stand, so that all which have returned from 

 foraging may enter it. The bees, which before this were 



* The copious alphabetical index at the end, makes it easy to refer to any sub- 

 ject discussed in this book. 



