198 THE FARMER'S 



is provided with a queen, equal in fecundity to the 

 queen of the larger stock, and as the brood she 

 brings continually demands the labour and at- 

 tendance of nearly half the bees, this circum- 

 stance renders the other moity, from the small- 

 ness of their number, unable to accumulate a 

 large quantity of honey m the short time it most- 

 ly abounds, and therefore honey cannot be obtain- 

 ed in glass hives or otherwise, but from a strong- 

 ly-peopled hive. 



Hive the swarms or casts in the usual way, and 

 at about 8 o'clock the same evening spread a cloth 

 on the ground*, near to the hive required to be 

 reinforced; bring the new swarm, and strike it 

 iown rather hard, flat on the ground. The bees 

 will then fall in a cluster; quickly place over them 

 the stock to be reinforced; in ten minutes they 

 will have united and become as one family, to be 

 removed the same evening to its former situation. 



Or, each cast or swarm may be hived seperate- 

 ly. In the evening, turn the crown of the hive 

 into a pail, and set the other hive exactly over it; 

 in the morning, the bees from the bottom hive 

 wil] have ascended. 



The system of uniting, so very important, is but 

 little practised, and has been overlooked by many 

 cultivators; but it is absolutely necessary to have 

 the hives well peopled and completely sheltered 

 Irom wet, which are the principal and main objects 

 to be particularly attended to in the art of bee 

 keeping; and the advantages of uniting swarms 

 will be found particularly beneficial in working the 

 glasses with the newly invented double-topped 

 hives. 



