CHAPTER V:L 



SWARMING AND HIVING. 

 NDER the old systems of bee keeping swarm- 



"XlP ing ■was very imperfectly understood. And 

 ^i;,^' even at the present time it is amusing to see 

 howr many old bee keepers manage their bees. 

 There is a class of old fogies, who denounce all im- 

 provements and progress in bee keeping, and who, 

 vear after year, move in the same tracks in the man- 

 agement of their bees, asserting that they know all 

 •about bees that is worth knowing. It is, to say the 

 least, amusing, to see how this class of bee keepers 

 manage when their bees swarm. 



In the middle of some very warm day in June or 

 July, the alarm '■'■iees s-warming^" is sounded. 

 Immediately the whole household is turned out, 

 some beating tin pans, some sounding horns, some 

 shaking cow bells — anything and everything with 

 which to make a terrible din is caught up in the 

 excitement, and every member of the household 

 works with the sole aim of making as much noise as 

 possible. This is done to make the bees cluster! 

 If this is not done, they will leave for the woods! 

 I should think the poor bees would leave anyway, 

 to get rid of the noise and foolish whims of their 



