214 NATURAL SWARMING. 
ored black, can hardly be distinguished, at a distance, from 
a clustering swarm. A black woolen stocking or piece of 
cloth, fastened to a shady limb, or to a pole, in plain sight 
of the hives, and where the bees can be most conveniently 
hived, would answer as good a purpose. Swarms are not 
only attracted by the bee-like color of such objects, but are 
more readily induced to alight upon them, if they furnish 
something to which they can easily cling, the better to sup- 
port their grape-like clusters. 
Still better than the above, a frame of dry comb, as dark 
as possible, will often attract the bees and cause them to 
cluster. None of these devices however are infallible ; hence 
the advisability of locating an Apiary among low trees or 
bushes, or in an orchard, if possible. 
When no trees or bushes are to be found, and no settling 
place has been provided, they will settle wherever the queen 
may happen to alight, on a grape-vine, on weeds, on the 
ground, on the corner of a building, ete. 
418. It will inspire the inexperienced Apiarist with more 
confidence, to remember that almost all the bees in a swarm, 
are in a very peaceable mood, having filled themselves with 
honey before leaving the parent-stock (880). Yet there 
are, in nearly every swarm, afew bees that have either 
joined from a neighboring hive, or have not filled their 
honey-sack completely before leaving. These bees are liable 
to get angry, when the swarm is harvested. So, if the Api- 
arist is timid, or suffers severely from the sting of a bee, he 
should, by all means, furnish himself with the protection of 
a bee-dress (386). The use of a smoker (382), is also 
advisable, both in preventing the bees from stinging, and in 
helping to drive them into the hive; but it must not be used 
plentifully, as it might cause the bees to abscond, or to 
return to the clustering spot. 
419. A new swarm should be hived as soon as the bees have 
quietly clustered around their queen; although there is no 
