ARTIFICIAL SWAJRMING. 163 



without any further trouble, your parent-stocks and forced 

 swarms will alike prosper. 



One great advantage which this method has over all 

 others, is, that it secures, so simply and effectually, the 

 necessary number of bees for the parent-stocks. Inexpe- 

 rienced persons, instead of being perplexed to know how 

 many bees they shall leave in the forced stocks, may drive 

 from them, if they can, every bee. If the bee-keeper can- 

 not conveniently obtain a swarm from a distance, he may 

 use, for this purpose, the first natural swarm which comes 

 off in his own Apiary ; and by delaying to make artificial 

 colonies until natural swarms begin to issue, every such 

 swarm may be used for forming at least four artificial 

 swarms. Or, by the method recommended by Dr. Don- 

 hoff, of Germany, he may secure a colony, which, when 

 divided in the way above mentioned, will adhere to 

 their new locations : " On an evening, when the next 

 day promises to be clear and warm, drive out a swarm, 

 and set it in the place of the parent-stock. Next day, 

 when it is warm, pour some honey among the bees in 

 the box, and in a few hours they will swarm."* 



The directions given for the formation of artificial colo- 

 nies, differ, in some important respects, from any furnished 

 by other writers, and are so simple that any one accustomed 

 to handle bees can easily follow them. They enable the 



* A forced swarm may be made to adhere to its new location as follows : Secure 

 their queen, when they are shaken out of the hive ; and when they show that 

 they miss her, confine them to their hive, until their agitation has reached its 

 height. Then open the hive, and as the bees begin to take wing, present to them 

 their queen (see p. 159). When they have clustered around her, they may be 

 treated like a natural swarm. To do this with every forced swarm would take 

 too much time; but it would answer well when the forced swarm is to be 

 divided, as above, into four or five parts. 



Mr. P. J. Mahan, of Philadelphia, informs me that he has several times suc- 

 ceeded in making an old colony adhere to a new place in the Apiary, by 'beating 

 the hive, after the bees have been shut In, even at the risk of slightly injuring some 

 of its combs. When it is opened, the bees will fly out in great numbers, but 

 nearly all will return to their hive on the new stand. 



