306 miner's AMERICAN 



can destroy our old families every fall, and leave our 

 young ones ; but this method is a cruel and a barbarous 

 one; and wholly unnecessary, to say nothing of the 

 loss that the owner sustains by such a course. The 

 method pursued in dividing families by a division of the 

 hive, affords new combs for one-half of the tenement ; 

 and this mode may be pursued with tolerable success, 

 and two families are made where, perhaps, but one would 

 exist, in the case of driving out the bees into new hives. 

 Driving them out, makes the operation perfect, and if 

 not done until a swarm issues, two families are just as 

 certain to result from it as on the previous plan. 



The operation of driving out should be performed as 

 follows : The bees should not be disturbed before the 

 fore part of June, in order to see whether any swarms 

 are to issue, and to give an opportunity for as many 

 larvae to develope as possible. Whether a swarm be 

 sent off or not, it is not advisable to wait beyond the 20th 

 of June, as the bees must have time to lay in sufficient 

 honey for their winter use. At evening, or early in the 

 morning, take an empty hive and surmount the full one, 

 as before directed, winding a cloth around the junction. 

 Then, as before stated, beat the sides of the hive, until 

 all the bees have ascended into the empty one, which 

 will generally be effected, in 15 or 20 minutes; if the 

 old hive be full of bees. If it be but partially filled, they 

 cannot be forced out at all, without the use of smoke. 



