196 LAW RESPECTING SWARMS. 



loss for arguments to support him. The law however sanc- 

 tions an individual in entering the garden of another person, 

 to obtain his swarm, provided he can prove that he never 

 lost sight of it from the time of its departure from the hive, 

 till the moment of its settling ; he is however obliged to 

 remunerate the proprietor of the garden for any damage he 

 may commit in the hiving of the swarm. 



The country people are very capricious in the liquids and 

 substances which they make use of for rubbing the interior 

 of the hive to invite the bees to ascend into it ; all of which 

 are of little or no efficacy, if the queen bee takes a dislike to 

 her new habitation. Honey, odoriferous herbs, and even the 

 juice of bean stalks have been recommended ; and should the 

 bees ascend into the hive on the application of any of these 

 articles, it is immediately ascribed to their specific virtue, 

 and not to the will or caprice of the bees. There is one 

 liquid, however, the efficacy of which we have frequently 

 tried with success, although it was not clear to us that the 

 bees would not have settled in the hive equally well without 

 it. This liquid is human urine, and we are disposed to 

 admit that we never applied it to a hive, in which the swarm 

 did not immediately settle. It is rather a singular but a 

 frequently verified fact, that a swarm almost universally 

 rejects a very large hive, and they will never settle in one, 

 that is musty or which has a bad smell *. 



When the swarm is hived, and the bees appear restless 

 and confused, it is a certain sign, that the queen is not 



* In Italy and France they rub the hives with the leaves of garlick and 

 onions, and Contardi, who was well instructed in the natural economy of 

 bees, goes so far as to assert that the bees accustom themselves to this odour 

 from the want of a better. If however we compare this statement with 

 that of the Abbe della Rocca, and take into our consideration at the same 

 time the experience of apiarians in general, some surprise at the hardy 

 assertion of Contardi must necessarily be excited. "It is certain," says 

 L'Abbe della Rocca, " that we should particularly refrain from approaching 

 our bees, when we have been touching either garlick or onions, or even 

 when we have been eating cheese, as we are then sure of being attacked with 

 great acrimony." 



