ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 191 



In giving directions for the creation of forced swarms, 

 I advised that it should be done during the pleasanlest 

 part of the day, when the largest number of bees are for- 

 aging abroad. If the operation is performed when all the 

 bees are at home, and they are all driven into the empty- 

 hive, the old hive will be so depopulated that many of the 

 young will perish for want of suitable attention, and the 

 parent stock will be greatly deteriorated in value. If only 

 a part of the bees are expelled, the queen may be left be- 

 hind, and the whole operation will be a failure, and at 

 best it will be difficult to make a suitable division of. the bees 

 between the two hives. Indeed, under any circumstances, 

 this is the most difficult part of the process, and it often re- 

 quires no little judgment to equalize the two colonies. 



Some recommend placing the forced swarm on the old 

 stand, and removing the parent hive with the bees that are 

 deemed sufficient, to a new place. If this is done, and the 

 bees have their liberty, so many of them will leave for the 

 familiar spot, that the hive will be almost deserted, and a 

 very large proportion of its brood will perish. The bees in 

 this hive, if it is to be set in a new place, must have water 

 given to them, and be so shut up as to have an abundance of 

 air, until late in the afternoon of the third day, when the hive 

 may be epened, and they will take wing, almost as though 

 they were intending to swarm. Some will even then, 

 return to the place where they originally stood, and join the 

 forced swarm, but the most of them, after hovering in the 

 air for a short time, will re-enter the hive. During the time 

 thai they have been shut up, thousands of young bees will 

 have emerged from their cells, and these, knowing no other 

 home, will aid in taking] care of the larvse, and in carrying 

 on the work of the hive. 



Instead of trying to make an equitable division at the 



