AKTIFICIAL SWARMING. 123 



ing is a very simple affair — so simple that no bee-keeper 

 cau see it done witliout understanding it pretty well. 



It is much, more easily performed and sooner done 

 than we can describe it with, our pen. Given a hive 

 ready for swarming, and a skep prepared to receive the 

 swarm, another empty hive and a table-cloth or piece 

 of calico are reqviired. These are placed some yards — it 

 does not matter how many — from the old hive to be 

 swarmed. 



A few puffs of smoke are blown into the hive, which is 

 then carried ^o where the empty hive and calico are. It 

 is turned upside down, or placed on its crown ; then the 

 empty hive is placed on and over it, the calico rolled 

 round the junction of the two to keep all the bees in. 

 The hive to receive and contain the swarm for good is 

 placed on the board of the old hive with a view to pre- 

 vent the bees flying about and going into other hives. 

 The reason why the hive with cross-sticks is not first 

 placed on the hive to receive the swarm is owing to the 

 difficulty of seeing the queen in it. The bees hang in 

 clusters on the sticks, hence they are first driven into 

 an empty hive, in which the queen is easily seen, then 

 shaken into the other prepared to receive the swarm. 

 Now the driving or drumming commences, which is 

 simply done by beating the bottom hive with open hands 

 for five or ten minutes. This drumming causes the bees 

 to run up into the empty hive, and in nineteen cases out 

 of twenty the queen goes with the bees or swarm so 

 drummed up. But to be quite sure that the queen is with 

 the swarm, we take the hive (now containing the swarm) 

 oft" the parent hive, turn it upside down, exposing the 

 whole swarm to view in order to see the queen. She is 

 easily distinguished, and when we have seen her, we take- 

 the swarm back to the old stand, and shake them aU into 



