72 THE APIARY. 



alight. After the hiving- is accomplished, the hive should 

 be left near to catch any stragglers, for there will'always 

 be a few; towards evening, close the entrance, and 

 remove them to the exact position they are intended 

 permanently to occupy. Success depends on this, and 

 also on their careful removal on the day or evening of 

 swarming. The following morning the bees labour in 

 the new location, marking well their habitation before 

 they take flight, and to which they will not fail to return, 

 loaded with luscious store. 



A fortnight must be allowed for filling the stock-hive ; 

 then, if the weather be fine and warm, they will prepare 

 to swarm again, as will be indicated by the thermometer 

 rising rapidly to lOO degrees or upwards. One of the 

 zinc slides on the wooden top must now be withdrawn, 

 and a bell-glass put on, covered and protected by the 

 upper hive ; the other glasses may then be given in the 

 same manner, a day or two after which, should the 

 weather continue favourable, all signs of swarming will 

 at once disappear, the bees now having increased store 



this kind, which he experienced last summer : — " A swarm clus- 

 tered among the large branches of a pear-tree, just at their point 

 of union with the trunk. In this case he merely supported 

 a straw hive just over the swarm with the left hand, whilst 

 he struck the trunk of the tree with the open palm of the right. 

 The vibration thus produced sent the bees up into the hive 

 with great rapidity, and the entire swarm was speedily hived in 

 the most satisfactory manner." A few whiffs of smoke will 

 accelerate upward movement of swarms in such circumstances. 



