214 SYSTEM ADOPTED BY BONNER. 



a table-cloth round the hives at their point of union, to leave 

 the bees to settle the matter between themselves according to 

 their taste and temper. It would, indeed, be a method highly 

 to be recommended on account of the facility of its execu- 

 tion, were success one of its accompaniments ; but seldom in 

 our experiments did that accompaniment fall to our lot ; on 

 the contrary, we generally lost one, if not both of the hives. 

 Discoursing once with Bonner on this subject, he informed 

 us, that the loss of the hives was entirely owing to our own 

 ignorance or remissness, for that we had neglected to take a 

 certain preliminary step, which was, to ascertain, previously 

 to placing one hive over the other, the reciprocal feelings of 

 the bees towards each other, which could be easily accom- 

 plished by catching about a dozen of the bees of the second 

 swarm, and placing them before the entrance of the popu- 

 lous hive, when the friendly or hostile disposition of the 

 bees would immediately manifest itself, and whether the 

 intrusion of a few hundred hungry dependents, who had in 

 no manner contributed to the amassing of the stores with 

 which their hive might be furnished, was an act to which 

 they would submit without losing their temper, or whether 

 they would revenge themselves upon the intruders by kill- 

 ing them at once. Following the advice of the worthy Scot, 

 we, with all the formality of a court master of the cere- 

 monies, did present about a dozen bees to those of a hive, 

 which we intended to strengthen with the half-starved com- 

 munity of a second swarm, and the consequence was, that 

 we had either selected a moment when the bees were not in 

 a mood to admit any intruders into their hive, or when the 

 intruders themselves had the spirit of foresight working 

 strongly within them, as to the fate which was most likely to 

 befal them, were they to attempt to incorporate themselves 

 with the richer and more pampered members of the more 

 powerful monarchy ; whichever might have been the case, 

 all that we gained was, that we placed one hive in a com- 

 plete state of commotion, and we had the mortification of 



