THE BEE. 
299 
below the junction, so that not a bee may escape, it will be proper to 
place an empty decoy hive upon the stand where the full hive stood, 
to amuse any straggling bees that may have stayed out late, or that may 
escape during the operation. The conjoined hives arc then to be removed 
into a darkened room, in the manner already described, when, if the hive 
be well peopled , and the weather warm, by drumming at first gently, and 
then smartly with the open hands or a couple of sticks on the outside 
of the hive, the bees will be so alarmed, that in a few minutes they will 
have ascended into the super. The ascent may always be ascertained 
by the humming noise attending it. The impulse thus communicated 
to the bees should be given in the direction of the combs, and by no 
means upon those parts of the hive which are opposite to their sides, as 
it might separate them from their attachments.” 
“The exchange of habitation having been effected, the ulterior pro- 
ceedings must be regulated by the object in view. If it be wished to 
have possession of the full hive, it will be simply necessary to leave the 
decoy-hive in its place, and after covering the honey-combs with a cloth 
to prevent them from being scented, to carry the bees with their tem- 
porary abode toward their usual place of entrance, when, by spreading 
a cloth on the ground, or on a table, all the bees may be dislodged and 
made to fall upon it, by a smart stroke with the hands upon the top of 
the hive, and if one side of the cloth be raised to the resting-board, the 
bees will gradually ascend, and reoccupy their original station.” 
Driving is made use of by the Persian villagers, whose hives are made 
in a cylindrical form, and built horizontally into the walls of their houses, 
the bees’ entrance being outside the wall, and a movable door inside, 
the end of the hive projecting more than a foot into the room. When 
the villager wishes for some honey, he drums smartly upon the end of 
the hive which projects into his room, which causes the bees to withdraw 
to the other end. The circular lid is then quickly opened, as many 
combs as he wishes for cut out, and the lid closed again. 
No one should be without spare hives or boxes ready to be used when 
required, even if they do not at the outset fit up a complete apparatus. 
Thus— 
1 . A spare box or hive will be ready to receive a swarm obtained in 
the ordinary manner, with all its picturesque but inconvenient acces- 
sories : as, long watching to know the moment of swarming ; long run- 
nings, perhaps, to overtake the vagrant young colony, over hill and 
valley, brake and brier, and amid interminable ear-splitting tumult, which 
the bees have the bad taste, it is supposed, to like ; and the race often 
ending in seeing the whole cluster safely deposited in a neighbor’s 
apiary, who swears it went from his hive. If you wish to avoid all that 
kind of thing, do your best to give the bees no motive for such wander- 
ings, and every conceivable reason to stay where they are. Put a decoy- 
hive ready, with a delicious piece of comb in it (an old hive, with its 
own combs, will be still more attractive), and it is most likely the scouts 
sent out to explore will return with such a glowing account of the land 
of milk and honey they have discovered, that the swarm will be im- 
patient to be off and take possession. This must, however, be done 
with great care, and the decoy-hive not placed in the air too soon, as 
