BEE MANUAL. 199 



themselves till they settle down on the frames, which they usually do 

 in a very short time. The swarm-box is then taken off, the mat 

 and cover placed on the hive, the entrance made free, and the new 

 colony goes to work at once. Swarms taken at the apiary are hived 

 immediately when taken — any brought from a distance, and which 

 may have been a day or more in the box, are hived in the evening or 

 after dark. In this way we never have any trouble from the bees 

 deserting the new hive." 



Should a swarm settle in the midst of a bush or on the 

 ground, a cloth should be spread as near as possible, and the 

 box placed on it in the most convenient position for brushing 

 some of the bees into it. As soon as the main body of the 

 bees begin to make for the box they may be left to take their 

 own time, care being taken always to see that hives and boxes 

 containing new swarms are shaded from the heat of the sun. 

 When a box has to be left, as in the above case, till the swarm 

 clusters in it, it is better to let it remain till a little before dusk 

 before hiving the bees. I have found in the majority of cases 

 that when swarms have been disturbed by trying to hive them 

 before evening, after they have been left long enough in the 

 boxes they were taken in to settle themselves, they have 

 risen again, and sometimes have gone straight away. In 

 the case of a swarm having settled and no one at hand 

 with sufficient courage to hive it, a sheet thrown around it 

 will usually prevent the bees absconding till assistance can be 

 obtained. 



When two swarms issue at the same time, and cluster toge- 

 ther (a circumstance which, as already mentioned, is liable to 

 take place in a large apiary), and we are desirous of keeping 

 down increase, they may be hived together, if sufficient room 

 is provided by putting on the supers. But in the event of 

 there being more than two, and the bees are too numerous to 

 be put in one hive, the cluster should be divided into parts, 

 the size of a good swarm each, and put into two or more sepa- 

 rate hives, into each of which a frame of brood and eggs has 

 been placed. Should none of the queens be seen, it may be 

 ascertained in a short time which of the hives, if any, are 

 queenless, by queen cells being started over the eggs or 

 larvae provided them, when, if any are at hand, we may, to 

 save time, give them either a queen or a nearly mature 

 queen-cell. 



