THE HONEY-BEE. 



ing, bees often send forth scouts to select a place for 

 settling. Neighbour records a curious instance of 

 this kind. He says : " A lady, who lived about a 

 quarter of a mile from our apiary, sent to us to say 

 that a swarm had gone in at a hole over her stable, 

 and to ask us to come and hive them. On our going 

 to do so, her gardener told us that he had seen, three 

 days previous, two or three bees as if reconnoitring ; 

 next day several came, and about eleven o'clock on 

 the third day the whole swarm went in, and took up 

 their position between the rafters [? joists] under the 

 flooring. The difficulty was now to get at them. A 

 carpenter was sent for, the boards were taken up, a 

 hive was set over, with a brood-comb placed in it 

 attract them, and by dint of smoke and brushing 

 to with a feather, the queen and her retinue were 

 coaxed to ascend into the hive. Some of the bees 

 had already gone out to forage, and there were many 

 flying about that had not settled ; so, to secure these, 

 and to make it easy for them, we brought the hive 

 out, and erected a sort of platform on a pair of steps 

 close to the hole, which we stopped. By night-time 

 all the out-flying bees had joined the swarm, and 

 were easily removed." 



The number of bees in a swarm varies consider- 

 ably, but the usual amount is from 10,000 to 15,000. 

 In rarer cases, there will be from 20,000 to 25,000. 

 Von Berlepsch, by careful experiments, estimated 

 that about 4,000 gorged bees weighed i lb. : so that 

 a good swarm will weigh from 3 lbs. to 5 lbs. As 

 may be easily understood, the more numerous the 

 bees, the better for the future of the colony, provided 

 there is space in the hive for them to work in. 



