BEE MANUAL. 201 
another hive; it will not be so likely to leave when this is 
done, and the bees are provided with the means of raising a 
queen, should any accident in hiving them have deprived them 
of their own. 
CLIPPING THE QUEEN’S WING. 
For the purpose of obviating some of the inconveniences 
ecnnected with natural swarming, many leading bee-keepers 
have adopted the plan of clipping a wing of the queen after she 
has been tmpregnated, to prevent her flying with the swarm. 
Many reasons can be given in favour of this method, while 
there is only one that I know of which some consider against 
it. 
When a swarm issues, the clipped queen, although she cannot 
fly, will make an attempt, and consequently fall to the ground 
close to the hive. The bee-keeper, being at hand, must pick 
her up and cage her. As soon as the bees are all out, remove 
the hive to another stand some distance away, and place an 
empty one, fitted with frames of comb or foundation, and a 
frame of eggs and brood, in its stead. Open the entrance as 
wide as possible, and lay the caged queen down close to it. In 
the meantime the swarm may have settled; but when the bees 
discover that the queen is not with them they will not be long 
before they return and naturally enter the new hive. While 
they are going in, release the queen, and see that she goes in 
with them. When two or more swarms issue at the same time 
and form one cluster, they will separate in a short time, and 
return to their several stands; so that if the bee-keeper has 
secured the queens and changed the hives before their return, 
he will have done his hiving with little trouble. Care must 
be taken to clip a wing of every queen; for if there should 
happen to be one queen in the cluster, the bees will not 
return. 
The objection to this method sometimes put forward is the 
necessity of having some one constantly on the alert to secure 
the queen and change the hives. In a large apiary it would 
be necessary to see the swarm coming out of the hive, or else 
it would be difficult to find the queen. It is quite certain that 
if the bees return with or without their queen, they will make 
another attempt next day, and if they have to return to the 
old hive again, the probability is that if they find her they will 
