DRIVING AND SHAKING BEES. 183 



other swarm is shaken amongst them. A swarm may be 

 divided between two hives, or three, as successfully as 

 when wholly given to one. We are now speaking of 

 uniting bees in autumn, when it is customary for many 

 to destroy them by brimstone. 



The oldest queen of the two swarms should be kUled 

 before the bees are united. And it is necessary to remem- 

 ber that the hives standing against each other in the same 

 garden are most eligible for being united, as each swarm 

 will be near its own stand. When our hives are brought 

 home from the moors we place the honey-hives in front 

 of or side by side with those marked for keeping, thus : — 



J3 



(honey) [honeyj 



Here the four stock-hives get the bees of the two 

 honey-hives, and if there were four honey-hives the stocks 

 would get a whole swarm eacL 



But suppose a honey-hive has been standing at some 

 distance from those we wish to strengthen by its bees, 

 how can we act without risk ? There is some, if not great, 

 difficulty in arranging such matters. 



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Suppose we want to get the honey from !N"o. 2, and 

 strengthen with bees 7 and 9. If the bees of 2 were to 

 be put in 7 and 9 they would return to their old stand, 

 and probably be killed at the doors of 1 and 3. In such 

 a case we drive all the bees out of 8 and unite them to 7 



