162 SWAJJMING. 



day will not always Jo. It will take no longer to move 

 them at one time than at another. It is useless to object, 

 and say that " it will take too long to wait for the bees to 

 get in." I shall insist on your making aU the bees enter 

 before you leave them. I consider this an essential feature 

 in the management. I will not say that my directions will 

 always prevent their going to the woods, but in my expe- 

 rience, not one in a thousand has ever thus left. It is 

 possible that judicious management has had no influence 

 upon my success, yet I have indulged something like an 

 opinion of this kind for a long time. 



LOSS BY PLIGHT. 



Some of my neighboring bee-keepers lose a quarter or 

 half their swarms by flight, and how do they manage ? 

 When the word is given out, " Bees swarming," a tin 

 horn, tin pan, or any thing to make a horrible din, is seized 

 upon, and as much noise made as possible, to make them 

 cluster, which they naturally would do, without the music. 

 The fact that they would cluster in any case, probably 

 gave rise to the opinion of the old lady who knew " drum- 

 ming on a tin pan did good, for she had tried it." Very 

 often a hive is to be constructed, or an old one, unfit to 

 use in any shape, must have some new cross sticks ; or 

 something else must be done to take time. When the 

 hive is obtained, it must be washed with something nice 

 to make the bees like it ; a little honey, or sugar and wa- 

 ter, molasses and water, salt and water, must be daubed on 

 the inside ; or salt and water rubbed on with hickory 

 leaves is " the best thing in the world ;" several other 

 things are just as good, and some are better. Even 

 whiskey, that bane of man, has been offered them as a 

 bribe to stay, and sometimes they endure these nuisances, 

 and go to work. 



