VARIOUS METHODS. 249 
ble disposition, when full of honey, hence all manipulations 
become much easier. But at other times, great caution is 
Tequisite not only in giving a hive a strange queen, but in 
all attempts to mix bees belonging to different colonies. Bees 
having @ fertile queen will often quarrel with those having 
an unimpregnated one. 
Members of different colonies (30) recognize their hive- 
companions by the sense of smell, and if there should be a 
thousand hives in the Apiary, any one will readily detect 
a strange bee; just as each mother in a large flock of sheep 
is able, by the same sense, in the darkest night, to distin- 
guish her own lamb from all the others. Colonies might 
always be safely mingled, by sprinkling them with sugar- 
water, scented with peppermint or any other strong odor, 
which would make them all smell alike. 
Bees also recognize strangers by their actions, even when 
they have the same scent; for a frightened bee curls herself 
up with a cowed look, which unmistakably proclaims that 
she is conscious of being an intruder. If, therefore, the 
bees of one colony are left on their own stand, and the oth- 
ers are suddenly introduced, in a time of scarcity, the 
latter, even when both colonies have the same smell, are 
often so frightened that they are discovered to be strangers, 
and are instantly killed. If, however, both colonies are re- 
moved to a new stand, and shaken out together on a sheet, 
they will peaceably mingle, when scented alike. We find 
substantially the same thing recommended, in 1778, by 
Thomas Wildman (page 230 of the 3d edition of his valua- 
ble work on Bees), who says, that bees will''‘ unite while in 
fear and distress, without fighting, as they would be apt to 
do, if strange bees were added to a hive in possession of its 
honey.”’ 
486. The forcing of a swarm ought not to be attempted 
when the weather is cool, nor after dark. Bees are always 
much more irascible when their hives are disturbed after it 
