,56 SWAEMIXG AND HIVING. 



owner. But no, they dislike to leave the place of 

 their nativity, so in ten minutes or less from the 

 time they leave the hive, they settle in a cluster on 

 some object, generally within a half-dozen rods of 

 the hive. And they would have done so in this 

 case if no noise had been made. The noise did not 

 affect them in the least. 



Now the bees are to be hived, and we will see 

 how it is done in the old way. 



The bees in this case have clustered on a limb of 

 a valuable pear tree. "Very sorry they have 

 pitched there," says the man of perfect knowledge 

 in bee keeping; "I dislike to injure that tree, but 

 there is no help for it." 



But first a hive must be prepared. It is not 

 quite ready. (This is bad management.) It must 

 be washed out thoroughly on the inside with salt 

 and water, and rubbed over with some sweet 

 scented herbs. A bottom board must be got ready,' 

 etc., etc. At last the hive is ready. Now this wise 

 bee keeper places a table near where the swarm 

 clustered, sets his hive on the table, raises one 

 edge four or six inches, takes his saw — Oh, it 

 is a pity to cut that nice limb full of fruit from the 

 pear tree, but it must be done, thinks this man of 

 perfection in bee management. 



He grasps the limb firmly near the cluster of bees. 

 They are vei'y cross and uneasy. They have been 

 clustered an hour or more, while he has been get- 

 ting his hive ready. He saws off" the limb on which 

 the bees are hanging, and places it carefully, with 

 the bees adhering, on the table, by the side of the 



