TURNOUTS. . 107 



them out ; and for sixty years at least, my father and 

 his son have practised this mode of getting honey in great 

 quantity so early in the season. Such honey is super- 

 excellent, having been gathered chiefly from fruit and 

 sycamore trees, and commands a high price and ready sale. 

 We reckon Is. 3d. per lb. for run honey, and Is. 6d. for 

 honeycomb, a fair price. If there be only 20 lb. in a hive, 

 we drum the bees out of it into an empty one. In this 

 way 25s. worth of honey, and another swarm (the evicted 

 one), which we term " a turnout," are obtained from the 

 stock-hive, which has before yielded one or two swarms. 

 Thus we get two or three good swarms, and 20 or 30 lb. 

 of honey from a stock-hive. These turnouts are generally 

 a shade better than the second swarms from the same 

 hives ; and when no second swarms have been obtained 

 from the hives, the turnouts are very large swarms in- 

 deed, and require large hives. By practising this mode 

 of taking honey from stock-hives three weeks after swarm- 

 ing, the apiary contains hives that are filled with fresh 

 young combs, free from foul brood, and never over- 

 burdened with bee-bread. Then there is the encourage- 

 ment of profits already in the pocket, and two months of 

 summer yet to come. 



A hive should weigh 42 or 45 lb. weight to yield 20 

 lb. of honey. Sometimes we pass sentence against hives 

 of less weight, drum the bees out of them at the proper 

 time, and take the honey ; and sometimes, instead of tak- 

 ing their honey, after the bees have been driven out, we 

 place them in a dry room till autumn ; and if we then 

 find it will be advantageous to keep them for stock, and 

 take the honey from heavier hives, they are refilled with 

 bees taken from honey-hives, and placed in the garden. 



The process of turning bees out is simply that of driv- 

 ing them into empty hives prepared for them. In the 

 case of artificial swarming, we drum but a few minutes ; 



