37 
painted. Pine or butternut boards may be con- 
sidered preferable to any other. It has commonly 
been the practice of apiarians to rub the inside of 
the hive with various kinds of herbs, a solution of 
salt and water, honey, rum, and various other 
substances. All they require is a clean, dry hive 
of a proper size. 
Hives and drawers should be made all of one 
size, so that one drawer may fit every hive ; there- 
by saving much inconvenience in furnishing the 
hive with a second set of drawers. Place actable 
near where the swarm alights, in the shade, and 
when they are quietly settled on a branch of a 
tree or shrub, one person may hold the hive with 
the protector taken off directly under the swarm 
and an assistant give the branch a sudden shake' 
by which the bees fall into the hive; or if the 
branch be small and of little worth, a better way 
is to place the table directly under the swarm • 
then with a saw or knife sever the branch from 
the tree, place it on the table and set the hive im- 
mediately over it ; the hive should be raised a few 
inches from the table, by placing sticks upon it, 
to allow the scattering bees to enter. If the 
swarm should settle on some inconvenient place, 
as the post of a fence, trunk of a tree, or eaves 
ol a house, the bees must be carefully brushed 
into the hive with a wing or broom, and the hive 
immediately placed upon the table raised by sticks, 
as before. It not unfrequently happens, that from 
some dislike of the hive, the bees return to the 
branch from which they were taken, even the sec- 
ond and third time. 
Should they return to the parent hive, they 
will issue from it again in a few days. It some- 
times happens that two swarms issue from differ- 
ent hives at the same time and alight together, 
