THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 25 



pail, and set the old hive over it The bees will immediately ascend 

 up into it ; nor will there be any further issue, especially if the junc- 

 tion be effected towards evening. It is well to perform the operation 

 close to the old stand of the old hive, to which, (when the bees have 

 crept up into it,) the hive may be removed ; were the junction effected 

 at a distance, it might happen that a good many bees would lose them- 

 selves in seeking for their home in its well-known locality, particularly 

 if the old hive were not replaced till evening. 



The old-fashioned bee keeper will, I doubt not, object, to the system 

 here proposed, that it promises no nectar spoil the first year, owing to 

 my discouragement of casting; all scientific apiarians, however, are 

 agreed in recommending either the return of casts, or their junction 

 with one or more others. Of these two methods, I decidedly give the 

 preference to the former ; and I think it stands to reason, that two old 

 hives, (if still clean, and not too old as to their comb,) with a returned 

 population of youthful workers and vigorous queens, will do far more, 

 and yield a much larger profit in the end, than the united casts of these 

 hive's would do, together with the same old stocks, if preserved to 

 another year — seeing these will each have a weak population. More- 

 over, the season must be bad indeed which does not see some surplus 

 boney gathered by, and obtained from, the monster prime swarm. 

 Large though the hive may be, it will be found to fall short of the 

 space demanded by the wants of the thronging and busy insects ; the 

 bee master ought, therefore, about the eighteenth day after its estab- 

 lishment, (according to the season,) to withdraw the bung from the 

 top hole, and place a large glass or cap over it, having a piece of comb 

 fastened to its side by the application of heat, to tempt the bees up 

 into it. Should a glass be preferred to a cap of straw, it must have a 

 warm flannel covering closely fitting over it, to prevent the escape 

 of heat; in very hot weather, of course this may be removed, but put 

 on again should a change of weather occur and a cold temperature 

 prevail. A common bell hive painted should be made to cover the 

 glass or cap, surmounted by a neat hackle, projecting in part over the 

 lower hive, as a protection from rain and sun. Should more room be 

 wanted, which will be known by the thronging of the bees about the 

 entrance, a low flat-topped hive should be introduced between the 

 glass, already partially filled, and the hive itself; or else, if the hive 

 have several holes in its crown board, other glasses may be set over 



