74 THE API art; ; or, 



vhen the swarm has to be brought from a distance, and procured from 

 a cottager about whose skill in carrying out these directions there may 

 be misgivings, it is best to give instructions that the swarm be brought 

 home after sunset, and then the foregoing directions for inducing 

 the bees to tenant the frame-hive may be better carried out; for our- 

 selves, we much prefer the evening for the purpose. A little water 

 sprinkled over them from a watering pot is likely to induce the bees 

 to quit the ground and go up into the hive more quickly. 



Mr. Langstroth, in his admirable book " The Hive and Honey 

 Bee," writes " If they are too dilatory in entering the new hive, they 

 may be gently separated with a spoon or leafy twig, where they 

 gather in bandies on the sheets or they may be carefully 'spooned 

 up ' and shaken out close to the the front of the hive. As these go 

 in with fanning wings, they will raise a peculiar note, which com- 

 municates to their companions that they have found a home, and in 

 a short time the whole swarm will enter, without injury to a single 

 bee." In the Journal of Horticulture, Mr. Woodbury says " If 

 combs be fixed in the frames, the crown board may be removed, and 

 the cluster knocked out of the straw hive on to the top of the 

 exposed frames. The bees will disappear between them with the 

 utmost alacrity, delighted to have met with a ready famished 

 dwelling, and the top or crown board having been replaced, the 

 hive should at once be removed to the position it is intended 

 permanently to occupy." 



No one should attempt these operations without being protected 

 by a hee dress, and a pair of India-rubber gloves, — such as those used 

 by photograpers, — which are sting proof. Some persons also take the 

 precaution of tieing strings round the ancles of the trowsers, lest some 

 straggler should determine to attack the outposts of the enemy, which, 

 to say the least, might perplex the operator in the midst of his task. 

 Elastic India-rubber bands are good for this purpose, or a pair of 

 "knickerbockers" would be useful. If Wellington boots are worn, 

 the trowsers may be tucked within the leather, in which case no bee 

 can molest the operator, and no string or band wiU be needed. 

 Practice makes perfect in bee tending as in other matters, and when 

 a light hand is gained, there is little danger of the apiarian being 

 stung. 



If the weather be wet the next day or so after hiving, it M'ill be 

 well to give a little assistance to the new colony in the shape of food, 



