BEE MANUAL. 197 
prevent any person undertaking it. It has already been stated 
that the bees fill themselves with honey just previous to 
swarming, and as “ bees gorged with honey never volunteer an 
attack,” they may be handled at this time with little risk of 
their stinging; and so long as they are not unnecessarily 
hurt they may be tumbled and shaken about to an astonishing 
degree without attempting to defend themselves. Usually 
swarms cluster in such a manner that they may be shaken 
into a box or other receptacle with the greatest ease, though 
it may occasionally happen that a swarm will settle in a very 
awkward place for taking it; however, there are few difficul- 
ties in this way that may not, by the exercise of a little 
ingenuity on the part of the operator, be successfully over- 
come. 
First swarms, headed as they are by laying queens, are not 
long before they commence to settle. If it is a still, hot day 
the bees will choose the shady side of a tree or shrub, and, if 
a windy day, the lee side. Should they, however, cluster in a 
spot where the hot rays of the sun are beating down upon 
them, or the wind is blowing the cluster about, it may be taken 
for granted that the swarm will not remain long in that posi- 
tion, and if compelled to rise again there is no knowing where 
the bees may make for; at any rate there would be but little 
chance left of the owner securing them. A swarm should 
always be taken as soon as possible after wt has settled, and 
the sooner it is located in the hive to commence work the 
better. My own plan of taking and hiving swarms is as 
follows: When I find the swarm settling, I take a bottom 
board and a hive already fitted with frames of comb or foun- 
dation—the latter is temporarily removed from its permanent 
position—and place them close under or near the cluster, the 
hive being set as level as circumstances will admit and the 
frames spaced correctly. The front of the hive is propped up 
a little on the bottom board, and some kind of cloth—a sack 
ripped open will do—is spread in front, one edge resting on 
the bottom board. By this time the bulk of the bees will 
probably have settled. I now take a light, convenient-sized 
box similar to the one described—several of which are always 
at hand—and shake or brush the bees into it, yetting as much 
of the cluster in as I can, and turning the box partly on its 
side in my hands I empty a few bees out of it on to the 
