122 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 



AKTIFICIAL SWAEMING. 



It does not pay to wait and watcli for hives casting, and 

 it does not pay to lose swarms ; in fact it grieves a poor 

 man very much, to know that in his absence a swarm of 

 his has been lost. The adoption of the invaluable inven- 

 tion of swarming artificially saves the bee-keeper from a 

 world of anxiety and the loss of swarms. Who was the 

 inventor of this we cannot tell. My father adopted it, 

 if he did not invent it, nearly seventy years ago. He 

 swarmed his bees artificially before he knew the value of 

 fustian smoke for stupefying them. After finishing his 

 day's work he often swarmed three and four hives on an 

 evening ; and the only bee-dress he used was a cabbage- 

 blade hung over his face ; and this was for ever cast away 

 when he was taught by the Irishman to use the smoke of 

 fustian rags. 



The late Dr Campbell, author of many works, and editor 

 of many periodicals, once said, "Thank God for short- 

 hand ! " Artificial swarming, like shorthand, is a great 

 and useful invention. The bother of bee-keeping would 

 be too great for us if we did not swarm artificially. We 

 can easily take off four swarms in an houi ; and with the 

 assistance of a lad to drum a bit, we could take off six 

 swarms, place them aU in proper places, and cover them 

 up in less than an hour. The process of artificial swarm- 



