224 NATURAL SWARMING. 
Persons unaccustomed to bees, may think that we speak 
about ‘‘scooping them up,’ and ‘‘shaking them out,”’ 
almost as cooly as though giving directions to measure so 
many bushels of wheat; experience will soon convince 
them, that the ease with which they may be managed (72) 
is not at all exaggerated. 
440. Bees which swarm early in the day will generally 
begin to range the fields in a few hours after they are hived, 
or even in a few minutes, if they have empty comb; and 
the fewest bees will be lost when the hive is removed to its 
permanent stand, as soon as the bees have entered it. Ifit 
is desirable, for any reason, to remove the hive before all 
the bees have gone in, the sheet, on which the bees are 
lying, may be so folded that the colony can be easily 
carried to their new stand, where the beeu may enter at 
their leisure. 
While the hive should be set so as to incline slightly from 
rear to front (828), to shed the rain, there ought not to be 
the least pitch from side to side, or it will prevent the frames 
from hanging plumb, and compel the bees to build crooked 
combs. 
441. If several rainy days, or a dearth of honey, should 
occur immediately after the hiving of bees, it is well to 
feed (606) them a little to keep them from starving, till 
there is honey iu the blossoms. 
442. The Apiarist has already been informed of the 
importance of securing straight worker combs for his hives 
(318). ‘To astock-hive, such combs are like cash capital 
to a business man; and so long as they are fit for use, they 
should never be destroyed. 
Mr. S. Wagner had a colony over 21 years old, whose 
young bees appeared to be as large as any others in his 
Apiary. Mr. J. F. Racine, an old settler of Wallen, Indi- 
ana, lost a colony in the Winter of 1884-5 which he had 
had ever since 1855, without changing the combs. He con- 
sidered it one of the best in his Apiary. 
