40 The Townsend Bee Book 
catcher. Now smoke the rest of the bees off the post and they will 
soon alight on the basket. In this way the whole swarm can be 
carried to the hive and run in. 
HOW TO GET A SWARM INTO A HIVE 
The whole cluster of bees in the swarm-catcher should not be 
dumped in front of the hive at once, for a large number of them 
will take wing. About a quart of bees should be dislodged from 
the catcher and shaken near the entrance of the hive; and when 
these bees set up that ‘‘ homing hum ”’ every bee in the catcher 
will hear it, so that, when they are dumped in front of the hive, 
instead of many of them taking wing, some of them, perhaps, 
going back to the original clustering-place, all will stay on the 
alighting-board, and everything will be quiet. It is quite impor- 
tant to have the bees enter the hive as soon and as quietly as possi- 
ble; for if another swarm should issue soon after the first one is 
hived, the bees of this second swarm would be attracted to the 
first, and would be likely to enter with the rest. 
It often happens that another swarm issues about the time 
that the first one is nicely clustered on the swarm-catcher ; and in 
this case, if the first swarm be hived immediately, the bees of the 
swarm in the air would unite with it, so that there would be the 
two swarms in one hive. While this would do no serious harm, I 
usually prefer to have each swarm hived by itself; for by so doing 
about as much honey is secured, and I have the extra colony be- 
sides. In such a case, therefore, the proper way would be to carry 
the first swarm, already on the swarm-catcher, into a cellar, or set 
it aside in the shade, with a sheet over it, so the bees of the swarm 
in the air will not find it. While this is being done it is quite likely 
that the other swarm will cluster in the place just vacated by the 
first swarm. It may then be shaken into a second swarm-catcher 
and hived in the usual way; and when everything in the yard is 
quiet the first swarm left covered with a sheet can be hived as 
usual. 
WHAT TO DO WHEN MORE THAN ONE SWARM COMES OUT 
AT A TIME 
It sometimes happens that two or more swarms emerge at 
about the same time, and there is no way of keeping them from 
going together. This is a more serious matter, and the beginner 
will hardly know which way to turn. He will very likely get all 
the bees into one hive, as this is apparently the easiest way out of 
the difficulty. We will suppose that two swarms have issued and 
