TSEE-CUI.TURE. 
62 
straighten them and put wads of paper bctwcon thpm to hold 
them iu place. The cloth over the mouth of the hive will 
give the bees air enough. Hauling bees a ha)f hour or more 
generally removes the disposition to sting. Set the bees on 
the stand where you intend them to remain before letting 
them fly. 
A convenient arrangement for carrying a swarm is a tea 
chest with wire cloth over the mouth or bottom of it, and also 
over a hole three or four inches square made in the side of it. 
Have a leather handle tacked on the top. One ol such hives 
can be carried in each hand conveniently. To secure the 
wire cloth to the bottom, use a light wooden frame or strips 
tacked all around the edge of the wire cloth, with inch and 
a half screws through them to fasten to the bottom of the 
box. If only screwed two-thirds way in they will hold the 
box up so as to give the bees air when the box is set down. 
SWARMING. 
It is said, “A swarm of bees in May is worth a ton of hay; 
a swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon ; but a swarm 
of bees in July is not worth a fly.” 
If this be so the number of swarms not worth a fly are 
many more than those worth a ton of bay. The last half of 
J une yields the greatest number of swarms. The latter part 
of every season is not alike good for making honey, and some 
years a colony will collect as much after the first of July as 
they will other years after the first of June. Yet it is true 
that swarms in July are generally of little value in this lo- 
cality. One in the middle of May is worth as much as a half 
dozen the first of July. A variety of circumstances combine 
to make one hive give off several swarms, and another appa- 
rently as good, not any. 
That bees come out of their hives in swarms, make a great 
noise, then settle and wait awhile where the keeper can hive 
them, is a phenomenon admirably adapted to the wants of 
bee-eulturists. The fact that a colony of bees will not pro- 
duce nearly so much honey if they give off a swarm as if they 
did not, has induced some to adopt the non-swarming system, 
which besides being less trouble has some other advantages, 
but the advantages of the increase of stock in the swarming 
plan far exceed them. As the capacity of a queen’s laying 
