THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



found comb 3| to 4 inches thick, though it looks best when you confine 

 them to an average of two inches. . If the honey flowers be abundant comb 

 building goes on very rapidly, and the cells at the top and sides are soon 

 filled with honey while the centre is left for the brood. 



SWARMS. 



When bees are kept in straw skeps natural swarming is generally resorted 

 to by the bees. The first swarm is ready to come off when the hive is full of 

 bees and comb as well as brood and honey. The external signs are when 

 they rush from the hive with extended wings and play like young bees or 

 those out for an airing. Shortly before leaving they fill them themselves 

 with honey, and it is the queen or mother who leaves with the first swarm. 

 The sight of queen's cells warns her to prepare, and scouts are generally sent 

 out to find a home, and when this is accomplished she may leave her old 

 kingdom any time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. I have not seen in my hives 

 any first swarm after that hour. The sight of a swarm is one of the most 

 exhilerating and delightful description to the beekeeper. The second swarm 

 usually comes off about eight or ten days after, but is seldom so strong, how- 

 ever, should the season be a good one it is often the best one to weather the 

 winter, and moreover, it is almost certain to have a young, fresh queen in her 

 first year. I believe want of room to be the most general cause of swarming. 



DRIVING 



A knowledge of the process of driving is highly essential, as only by its 

 means can any of the operations in the most simple form of bee management 

 be performed. It should be done in the middle of a fine day, when the 

 majority of the bees are out gathering honey, as then there is less difficulty 

 in ascertaining the presence of the queen amongst the driven bees, as she is 

 more easily picked out in her passage upwards. Care should always be taken 

 in the removal of the hive from its stand to place an empty hive in its stead, 

 so that the bees when they return may find a domicile, otherwise they are apt 

 to enter an adjoining hive and cause mischief. A little smoke should be 

 blown into the hive which you intend to drive, and in a minute or two lift it 

 off its floor-board and turn it bottom up. r lhen place an empty hive the 

 same size over it, and if it be your first attempt at driving them, to give you 

 confidence place a piece of towelling round the joining, so that none of the 

 bees may escape to annoy you. By drumming the lower hive with the hands 

 so as to cause a slight jarring to the combs, you frighten the bees and they 

 will run up into the empty hive, and thus the swarm is effected it may be in 

 15 or 20 minutes. Care and judgment are required, and the first thing is to 



