128 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
water. The damping must not be a drowning, but, 
being ample, it will bring the bees into closer con- 
tact and aid us in dealing with them. If a tree has 
been chosen, an umbrella thrust in amongst the 
branches will give the welcome shade. Bees at 
swarming-time are nearly always in the best of 
temper ; but the statement that they then will not 
sting is an utter and very misleading mistake (see 
page 12). The novice should be veiled and gloved, 
even if the position taken up is a convenient one, such 
as the end of a bough. Should the swarm be intended 
to remain in a skep, it had better be hived into the 
one it is to permanently occupy. If a frame hive is 
to receive it, let it be first secured in a skep, and 
then transferred as hereafter described. We have 
just said that the end of a tree bough is a convenient 
position. Let us suppose that we have a swarm 
so situated, and that it is not above our reach as we 
stand upon the ground. 
Provided with a small towel, or other similar article, 
a skep (which should be clean within, and free of all 
“beer and sugar ^’abominations), and a large stone 
or 2in. wooden block, we are ready for action. With 
one hand we hold the skep inverted immediately 
beneath the swarm, and so close to the latter that 
the point of the cluster is near its crown, whilst, with 
the other hand, we grasp the bough as near as possible 
to the bees without crushing any, and, with a short 
and quick down and upward movement, we shake 
as many of the insects as possible into the skep. The 
novice would expect every bee to fly : some few 
hundreds will do so, and career around ; but the great 
