ARTIFICIAL SWARMINO. 189 



ening them. If the hive when removed from its stand 

 was put upon a stool or table, or something not so sol- 

 id as the ground, the drumming will cause more motion, 

 and yet be less apt to start any of the combs. These " rap- 

 pings" which certainly are not of a very " spiritual" char- 

 acter, produce nevertheless, a most decided effect upon the 

 bees : their first impulse is to sally out and wreak their ven- 

 geance upon those who have thus rudely assailed their 

 honied dome ; but as soon ajs they find that they are shut in, 

 a sudden fear that they are to be driven from their treasures, 

 seems to take possession of them. If the two hives have 

 glass windows, so that all the operations can be witnessed, 

 the bees, in a few moments, will be seen most busily en- 

 gaged in gorging themselves with honey. During all this 

 time, the rapping must be continued, and in about five min- 

 utes, nearly every bee will have filled itself to its utmost 

 capacity, and they are now prepared for iheir forced 

 emigration ; a prodigious hum is heard, and the bees 

 begin to mount into the upper box. In about ten minutes 

 from the time the rapping began, the mass of the bees with 

 their queen will have ascended, and will hang clustered, 

 just like a natural swarm. The box with the expelled bees 

 must now be gently lifted off, and should be placed upon a 

 bottom-board with a gauze wire ventilator, so that the bees 

 may be confined, and yet have plenty of air. A shallow 

 vessel or a piece of old comb containing water, ought to be 

 first placed on the bottom-board. If no gauze wire bottom- 

 board is at hand, the hive must be wedged up, so as to admit 

 an abundance of air, and be set in a shady place. 



The hive from which the bees were driven, must now be 

 set, without crushing any of the bees, on its old spot, in the 

 place of the decoy hive, that all the bees which have re- 

 turned from abroad, may enter. Before this change is made, 



