METHOD OF STRENGTHENING A WEAK HIVE. 219 



remainder on the ground, the latter will cheerfully join their 

 companions in the hive ; and should the proprietor be so for- 

 tunate as to obtain possession of the queen, and to place her 

 in the hive with only about a handful of her subjects, in a 

 quarter of an hour there will not be a bee on the ground. 



It frequently happens that bees will cluster for several 

 days, and even for weeks, before the entrance of the hive, 

 giving the proprietor every reason to suppose that on the 

 present or the following day, the swarm will leave the hive. 

 Day after day, however, the same phenomenon presents itself, 

 and the young apiarian becomes disheartened by such a tedi- 

 ous and fruitless watching. Under these circumstances, 

 Mr. Martin recommends that the temperature of the hive 

 should be raised to an almost intolerable heat, and thereby 

 force the bees to swarm. In answer to this recommendation, 

 we can only affirm that were the temperature of the hive 

 raised to a tropical heat, the bees would not depart, without 

 there was a queen ready to put herself at their head. In the 

 case of the protracted clustering of the bees, it is most pro- 

 bable that the supernumerary queens have been destroyed, 

 and the most advisable plan to be adopted is, either to place 

 a small hive on the top of the old one, cutting a hole of about 

 two inches in diameter, in the latter, or to place an eek of 

 about three bands under the old hive. The former plan is by 

 far the most advisable, as the bees will perhaps fill the smaller 

 hive with honey, which can be taken away at the close of 

 the season, without in the least impoverishing the hive. 



We have often tried the following experiment for the 

 purpose of strengthening a weak hive, but we cannot affirm 

 that it has been always attended with success ; nevertheless 

 it is an experiment worth trying, at the same time, we must 

 not conceal the fact, that we have sometimes lost a hive in 

 the trial of it. Select a well peopled hive, one, if possible, 

 that has not swarmed ; carry this hive to the place occupied 

 by the weak hive, and bring the weak hive to the place 



