158 Of theNatural Swarming of Bees. 
once eftablifhed as law, no perfon, who has 
a covetous bee-mafter in his neighbourhood, 
would be fure to lofe fome fwarms of his bees ; 
for, a dead hive, left ftanding im an apiary 
during fummer, feldom fails to receive a {warm 
before Lammas. : 
Many have been not a little difficulted how 
to determine, whether the old hive that the 
{warm went into, had living bees in it or not, 
before that event took place. One eafy me- 
thod of deciding this point, is, by infpecting. 
it, to fee if there are live young in it; and 
another is, by the diftance from which the 
fwarm has come; for, I know for certain, that 
a {warm will not fly a mile to a living hive; 
whereas, they will fly four miles to take poffef 
fion of an old one with combs in it, whofe inha- 
bitants aredead. Ihave, indeed, feen a {warm go 
into a living hive, that {tood in the fame apiary ; 
but this was rather accidental than otherwife. 
The Queen returning home in confufion, per- 
haps from a fruitlefs expedition, might mif- > 
take another hive for her own. In fuch cafes, 
a great battle frequently enfues, in which ma-. 
ny are flain, and often the Queen among them.. 
Sometimes I have feen them agree very well, 
and make a good colony, when the hive was . 
properly 
