136 THE HIVE AND HOUKT-BEB. 



queen for each hive, the queenless one will go back to the 

 old stock. 



If, while hiving a swaVm, the Apiarian wishes to secure 

 the queen, the bees should be shaken from the hiving-bas- 

 ket, a foot or more from the hive, when a quick eye will 

 generally see her as she passes over the sheet. If the 

 bees are reluctant to go in, a few must be directed to the 

 entrance, and care be taken to brush them back, when 

 they press forward in such dense masses that the queen is 

 likely to enter unobserved. An experienced eye readily 

 detects her peculiar color and form. She may be taken, 

 up without danger, as she never stings, unless engaged in 

 combat with another queen. 



It is interesting to witness how speedily a queen passes 

 into the hive, as soon as she recognizes the joyful note 

 announcing that her colony has found a home. She 

 quickly follows in the direction of the moving mass, and 

 her long legs enable her easily to outstrip, in the race for 

 possession, aU who attempt to follow her. Other bees 

 linger around the entrance, or fly into the air, or collect 

 in Ustless knots on the sheet ; but a fertile mother, with 

 an air of conscious importance, marches straight forward, 

 and looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, glides 

 into the hive, wi^ the same dispatohful ha^te that charac- 

 terizes a bee returning fully laden from the nectar-bearing 

 fields. 



Persons unaccustomed to bees, may think that I speak 

 about " scooping them up," and " shaking them out," al- 

 most as coolly as though giving directions to measure so 

 many bushels of wheat ; experience will soon convuice 

 them, that the ease with which they may be- managed is 

 not at all exaggerated. 



The old-fashioned way of hiving swarms, by mounting 

 trees, and cutting off valuable limbs, should- be entirely 



