188 THE BEE KEEPEK'S MANUAL. 



placed on the ground, upside down, scarcely a single bee 

 will fly out, and there will be little danger of being stung. 

 Timid and inexperienced Apiarians will, of course, protect 

 themselves with a bee-dress, and they may have an assistant 

 to spinkle the hive gently with sugar-water, as soon as it 

 is inverted. After placing the hive in an inverted posi- 

 tion on the ground, the empty hive must be put over it, 

 and every crack from which a bee might escape, must 

 be carefully closed with paper or any convenient material. 

 The upper hive ought to be furnished with two or three 

 slats, about an inch and a half wide, and fastened one 

 third of the distance from the top, so as to give the bees 

 every opportunity to cluster. 



As soon as the Apiarian is perfectly sure that the bees 

 cannot escape, he should place an empty hive upon the 

 stand from which they were removed, so that the multi- 

 tudes which return from the fields may enter it, instead of 

 dispersing to other hives, where some of them may meet 

 with a very unkind reception ; although as a general rule, 

 a bee with a load of freshly gathered honey, after the extent 

 of his resources is ascertained, is almost always, welcomed 

 by any hive to which he may carry his treasures ; while a 

 poor unfortunate that ventures to present itself empty and 

 poverty stricken, is generally at once destroyed ! The one 

 meets with as friendly a reception as a wealthy gentleman 

 who proposes to take up his abode in a country village, 

 while the other is as much an object of dislike as a pauper 

 who is suspected of wishing to become a parish charge ! 



To return to our imprisoned bees. Beginning at 'the 

 top, or what is now, (as the hive is upside down,) the bot- 

 tom, their hive should be beaten smartly with two small 

 rods on the front and back, or on the sides to which 

 the combs are attached, so as to run no risk of loos- 



