ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 223 



hive, by morning a sufficient number will have hatched, to 

 supply the place of those which may abandon the nucleus. 

 In my numerous experiments last Summer, in the formation 

 of aritficial swarms, I tried this plan and found that it an- 

 swered a good purpose ; the chief objection to it, is the 

 difficulty often of selecting the suitable kind of comb, if the 

 operation is delayed until late in the afternoon, I prefer, 

 therefore, to perform it, when the sun is an hour or two 

 high, and to confine the bees until dark. If there are not a 

 sufficient number of bees on the comb, I shake off some 

 from another frame, directly into the hive, and shut them 

 all up, giving them a supply of water, Sealed queens 

 if possible, should be used in all these operations. 



I shall now give a novel mode of creating nuclei, which I 

 have devised, and which I find to be attended with great 

 success. Hive a new swarm in the usual manner, in an old 

 box, and as soon as the bees have entered it, shut them up 

 and carry them down into the cellar. About an hour be- 

 fore sunset, take combs suitable to form as many nuclei 

 as you judge best, say five or six, or even eight or ten if the 

 swarm was large, and you need as many. Bring up the 

 new swarm and shake it out upon a sheet, sprinkling it 

 gently with sugar-water. With a large tumbler or saucer, 

 scoop up without hurting any of the bees, a pint or more of 

 them, and place them before the mouth of one of the hives 

 containing a brood comb ; repeat the process, until each nu- 

 cleus has, say, a quart of bees. If you see the queen, you 

 may give the hive in which you put her, three or four times 

 as many bees as any other ; and the next day it may be 

 strengthened with a few combs containing breed, just ready 

 to mature. If you did not find her, at the time of forming 

 the nuclei, when you afterwards examine them, the one 

 which contains her may be properly reinforced with bees and 

 comb, so as to enable it to work to the best advantage. 



