23 NATURAL SWARMINtf. 



ing filled themselves with honey before leaving the old hive, they 

 are usually peaceable and almost as harmless as flies. If they 

 should clog the entrance, disturb them gently with the feather 

 end of a quill, and, if any cluster upon the outside, brush them 

 down and see that all enter lest the queen be left out. Now, let 

 the hive down upon the board, and immediately carry it to the 

 place it is intended to occupy in the apiary. Eaise the front 

 edge half an inch, and shade the hive from the sun. The few 

 bees left flying will soon return to the old stock from which the 

 swarm issued. But if the swarm is left where it was hived till 

 evemng, many bees will have commenced gathering honey, and, 

 having carefully marked their new location, will, as they fly out, 

 the next morning return to this place and perish. If a swarm 

 should cluster upon a high limb or body of a tree, ascend upon a 

 ladder and shake or brush them into a basket, and cover it over 

 with a cloth to prevent their flying. The basket may be lowered 

 with a cord to an assistant, or brought down, and gently poured 

 upon the sheet at the entrance of the hive. "When the swarm 

 nas clustered upon a small limb, it may be carefully severed with- 

 out disturbing the cluster, and carried to the hive. Hold them 

 to the entrance until some discover the hive, when all will gladly 

 enter. 



If a swarm cluster in some inaccessible place, as the forks of a 

 tree, they may often be induced to enter a box inverted above 

 them, by smoking or slightly sprinkling them with water, or by 

 partly covering the box to make it resemble the entrance to a 

 hive, brush a few in and they will soon call in the whole swarti. 

 From the box they are shaken directly into the hive, or made to enter 



