188 THE farmer’s manual. 
lent uproar. 6th, The continual motion of the wiiigS 
of the Bees which stand at the entrance. 7th, Vio- 
lent commotions at the entrance of the hives, and the 
Bees crowding out in great numbers. Although these 
are certain indications of swarming, yet they some- 
times take place at other times, when they do not 
swarm. The time of swarming is critical, and must 
be carefully attended to; the least neglect may occa- 
sion the loss of a swarm. The profits of a swarm 
are worthy of the highest attention ; but the pleasure 
to an Apiarian is highly gratifying. The buz of con- 
fusion that accompanies a swarm when they quit the 
mother hive, and rise into the air in quest of their 
new abode, fills the Apiarian with anxiety ; but the 
calm of order, which follows when they light, fills 
him with joy, and their safe deposit into their new 
habitation, affords him the highest gratification. The 
question, whether the Bees send out a scout to disco- 
ver a proper place for their new habitation before they 
swarm, may be answered by th# following extract of 
a letter from Mr. Knight, addressed to Sir Joseph 
Banks, which is inserted in the philosophical trans- 
actions of 1807. Thus says .Jan de Crevecceur in 
his leUers Du Cutivatciir Americaine ; “ One of the 
problems most difficult to solve, is to know when 
the Bees will swarm, and whether the swarm will re- 
main in the hive provided for them, or escape, to es- 
tablish themselves in the cavity of some hollow tree; 
for when, means of their emissaries, they have cho- 
sen themselves a retreat, it is not possible to retain them 
in any hive you may select for them. 1 have many 
times forced swarms into hives, which 1 had prepared 
for them, but 1 always lost them towards night; at the 
very moment when I least expected it, they flew away 
to the woods.” 
It is only by a particular management that a swarm 
of Bees can be reconciled to a hive, when a distant 
domicil has been chosen. If they desert their hive 
soon after swarming, they must be pursued, and their 
