ROBBERS. 5T 
case, close up the hive entirely ; place by its side a hive 
having within it a card of honey, or comb filled with 
sweetened water ; let the bees come and vo a few times, 
and they will fasrly swarm about you, encouraged by their 
success. When in the midst of their labors, place a tube 
in the hive, fitted to the bee entrance, and long enough 
to reach about half. way through the hive, with its inner 
end elevated a little from the bottom. Now open one 
side of the hive, so as to let in the light—it should have 
one side of glass covered with a shutter—until the bees 
have filled and want to go home, when they will fly for 
the light, and find themselves trapped. Having provided 
a hole in the top of this hive, which can be opened and 
closed by means of a gate, place a hive on the top of 
this, containing a piece of brood comb freshly taken from 
a hive. Open the gate, close the shutter and entrance 
below, and open the shutter of the upper hive, until the 
bees, thus caged, have ascended into the upper hive ; 
then close the gate and the shutter of the upper, and open 
the shutter and entrance to the lower hive, letting in 
another band of robbers; and thus continue till you 
have caged the whole gang. The hives are now to be re- 
moved ; the top one to a permanent place in the apiary, 
where it is to stand till about an hour before sun down 
of the fourth day. It is then to be opened, and the bees 
given their liberty, when it will be found, that several 
queens have been started, and your robbers have con- 
cluded to stay with you altogether, and you can count 
one more swarm in the apiary. If small tin valves are 
placed upon the inner end of the tube, to be operated by 
the bees themselves, they are more easily caged, and 
without the gate and shutter. I discovered this device— 
the valves—about two years ago, and thought it new, but 
