BEE MANUAL. 199 
themselves till they settle down on the frames, which they usually do 
in a very short time. The swarm-box is then taken off, the mat 
and cover placed on the hive, the entrance made free, and the new 
colony goes to work at once. Swarms taken at the apiary are hived 
immediately when taken—any brought from a distance, and which 
may have been a day or more in the box, are hived in the evening or 
after dark. In this way we never have any trouble from the bees 
deserting the new hive.” 
Should a swarm settle in the midst of a bush or on the 
ground, a cloth should be spread as near as possible, and the 
box placed on it in the most convenient position for brushing 
some of the bees into it. As soon as the main body of the 
bees begin to make for the box they may be left to take their 
own time, care being taken always to see that hives and boxes 
containing new swarms are shaded from the heat of the sun. 
When a box has to be left, as in the above case, till the swarm 
clusters in it, itis better to let it remain till a little before dusk 
before hiving the bees. I have found in the majority of cases 
that when swarms have been disturbed by trying to hive them 
before evening, after they have been left long enough in the 
boxes they were taken in to settle themselves, they have 
risen again, and sometimes have gone straight away. In 
the case of a swarm having settled and no one at hand 
with sufficient courage to hive it, a sheet thrown around it 
will usually prevent the bees absconding till assistance can be 
obtained. 
When two swarms issue at the same time, and cluster toge- 
ther (a circumstance which, as already mentioned, is liable to 
take place in a large apiary), and we are desirous of keeping 
down increase, they may be hived together, if sufficient room 
is provided by putting on the supers. But in the event of 
there being more than two, and the bees are too numerous to 
be put in one hive, the cluster should be divided into parts, 
the size of a good swarm each, and put into two or more sepa- 
rate hives, into each of which a frame of brood and eggs has 
been placed. Should none of the queens be seen, it may be 
ascertained in a short time which of the hives, if any, are 
queenless, by queen cells being started over the eggs or 
larvee provided them, when, if any are at hand, we may, to 
save time, give them either a queen or a nearly mature 
queen-cell. 
