266 MINEE's AMERICAN 



where a portion are clustering on the outside of it. 

 That is not right, is it, sir ?" 



" I'll brush them off, and with the feather end of this 

 quill, I'll soon make them disappear." 



" Ha ! ha ! now they scamper — now they go in. Do 

 you leave the hive here, or remove it at once to the 

 stand ?" 



" It is not a matter of importance, whether it be re- 

 moved as soon as the bees become quiet, or left here 

 until evening. As a general rule, all swarms that come 

 off in the morning should be removed to the stand as 

 soon as they become quietly hived, and swarms that 

 issue in the afternoon, may be left until evening before 

 removing them. The reason for this course is, that a 

 swarm issuing in the morning, will become so accus- 

 tomed to the locality when the hive is left unremoved, 

 that more bees are lost the next day, when its situation 

 is changed, than would be, if the removal took place im- 

 mediately. I do not wish you to understand me, that 

 any bees are actually lost in either case, since they re- 

 turn to the parent hive, when they cannot find their 

 new tenement." 



" I understand you, sir, perfectly well, and I feel under 

 obligations to you for thus explaining the manner of 

 hiving, &c. Good morning, sir." 



So much of the features pertaining to swarming, I 

 have put into the words of others, in the form of a social 

 dialogue. 



The foregoing cut, as the reader perceives, represents 

 the actual operation of hiving a swarm of bees, as I am 



