SWABMIXG. 4& 



distance, if not evading you altogether, you may bring jt down 

 by throwing up sand or dust, which the bees mistake for rain, or 

 by firing a gun, which they mistake for thunder ; hence the old 

 fashion of the country- people following a swarm with the noise 

 of fire-shovels and frying-pans. You must be the more diligent 

 in at once securing your swarm, for it is a fact that the bees send 

 out scouts previous to swarming, whose duty it is to select a 

 proper habitation for the eolony. It is, on this account, a good 

 plan, when you anticipate a swarm, to leave an empty hive, pre- 

 viously smeared on the interior with honey, in some convenient 

 place, but not too near the old one. 



When the swarm settles, the bees collect themselves in a heap 

 round the queen, hanging to each other by means of their feet. 

 When thus suspended from a tree, they mav be secured by sim- 

 ply holding an empty hive under them, and tapping the branch 

 from which they are suspended. They should, in this case, 

 be sprinkled with honey and water, and confined for about twelve 

 hours. When a swarm divides into two or more bands, and 

 settle separately, it is probable that there are two queens. In 

 this case you must secure one of them. 



If through your inattention, a second swarm comes off, you 

 should, as soon as you have hived it, secure its queen, and return 

 the swarm to the hive ; indeed, when deprived of its queen, it 

 will usually immediately return of its own accord. Swarming is 

 a subject I have reason to believe is very generally misunderstood, 

 most persons desiring to promote it, conceiving that the greater 

 number of swarms, the richer will the hives be in August. The 

 very reverse of this is the case ; for when a hive is weak in num- 

 bers, a sufficient number of bees cannot be spared to go forth for 

 honey ; and, hence, they will be scarcely able to collect enough 

 for their actual support, far less to collect any surplus for their 

 master's benefit. Hear Mr. Briggs : — 



" The swarming of bees is a subject on which much miscon- 

 ception prevails. Most persons who keep their bees in the old 

 straw-hive plan, and suffocating system, appear to anticipate 

 their swarming with much anxiety, and to be of opinion that the 

 greater number of swarms — firsts, seconds, thirds, &c. — that they 

 obtain from their old hives during the summer, the more remu- 

 nerative will they prove to the owner at the end of the season ; 

 whereas the reverse of the above practice is much nearer of 

 being the best system to follow, which I shall endeavor to eluc.i- 



