224 NATURAL SWARMINO. 



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. If it 

 is desirable, for any reason, to remove the hive befor6 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 (328), 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 a stock-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. 



