loo THE APIARY. 



have found a home, with (as is generally the case) the: 

 queen safely housed, will hasten to join them. It is a 

 pretty sight to see the labourers crowding in like a 

 little army, with their heads pointing in the same direc- 

 tion, making for the desired home, which they will slowly 

 but surely enter, with fanning wings and a happy hum. 



Considerable help may be afforded by gently collecting 

 the stragglers in a table-spoon, and shaking them off 

 close to the entrance. 



In about an hour, all the bees will have entered the 

 hive, which may now be bodily taken to the place pre- 

 viously made ready for it, and which it is intended per- 

 manently to occupy, — a shelf, the size of the bottom of 

 the hive, with a sloping piece of wood four inches wide, 

 forms a firm bracket and a substantial stand, — these 

 and all other preparations, such as cutting the opening, 

 fixing the alighting-board, &c., having been previously 

 accomplished when the hive was empty. 



It will be as well to screen the hive from view for a 

 few days, until the bees become settled in their new 

 domicile. Although this hive is constructed of double 

 glass, to keep up a more uniform degree of warmth^ 

 still, from the cold nature of glass, and the close contact 

 into which the bees are brought with it, it is advisable to . 

 place flannel between the outer shutters and the glass of 

 the hive, on both sides. Such precaution is found essen- 

 tial if the bees remain in this hive during whiter, and 

 very much adds to their comfort on cold nights at most 



