222 ARTIFICIAL SWABMING. 



the morning, before the bees are on the wing, and for this 

 reason, or, for want of time, cannot take the proper precau- 

 tions, to secure for the old stocks the necessary number of 

 adhering bees, may still force swarms with advantage by 

 proceeding as follows : After the new colony has been form- 

 ed, in the manner previously described, care being taken to 

 leave in the old stock a sufficient number of bees, set this old 

 stock in a cool or shady place, and shut up the bees, giving 

 them an abundance of air, until late in the afternoon of the 

 third day. They may now be placed in any convenient 

 situation, and an hour or two before sun-set, allowed their 

 liberty. They will often take wing, almost as though they 

 were intending to swarm. Some will even now return to 

 the place where their hive originally stood, and join the 

 forced swarm, but most of them, after hovering a short 

 time in the air, will re-enter their hive. During the time 

 they have been shut up, thousands of young bees will have 

 emerged from their cells, all of which, knowing no other 

 home, will aid in carrying on the work of the hive. While 

 confined, the bees ought to be supplied with water, or they 

 will not be able to prepare food for the larvse, multitudes of 

 which would necessarily perish. If the hive is so construct- 

 ed that water cannot conveniently be given them, a small 

 gimblet hole may be made on the front, near the top, through 

 which it may be easily injected with a straw. 



The following is Dzierzon's new plan of creating nuclei, 

 already alluded to : Towards evening, he removes a piece of 

 brood comb, with eggs and bees just hatching, and puts it into 

 an empty hive, with a sufficient number of mature bees to keep 

 the brood from being chilled overnight. If the operation is 

 performed so late, that the bees are not disposed to take wing, 

 and leave the hive, by morning a sufficient number will have 

 hatched, to supply the place of those which may abandon 



