SWARMING AND HIVING. 
129 
who, having never seen a swarm hived, are apt to imagine 
that the process must be quite formidable. Experience in 
this, as in other things, will speedily give them the requi- 
site skill and confidence ; and the cry of “ the bees are 
swarming,” will often be hailed with even greater pleasure 
than an invitation to a sumptuous banquet. 
The hives for the new swarms should be painted long 
enough beforehand to be thoroughly dry. The smell of 
fresh paint is well known to be very injurious to human 
beings, and is so detested by bees, that they will often 
desert a new hive sooner than endure it. If the hives 
cannot be seasonably painted, paints should be used which 
contain no white-lead, and which are mixed so as to dry 
as quickly as possible. 
The following recipe, taken from the Bienenzeitung, for 
a cheap and durable paint, for rough hives, is said to be 
preferable to oil paint : “ Two parts, by measure, of fine 
sand, well sifted ; one of best English cement* ; one of • 
curd, from which the whey has been well expressed ; one 
of buttermilk. These are to be thoroughly mixed. The 
paint is to be applied, amid repeated stirring, to the hives, 
by means of a common paint-brush. A second coat is to 
be given after the lapse of half an hour. When this has 
become thoroughly dry, which will be in two or three 
days, it is to be brushed over lightly with a thin coat of 
boiled linseed oil, to which any desirable color niay be 
given. The boards to which the paint is to be applied 
should not be planed, but remain rough as the saw leaves 
them. No more of the paint should be prepared at any 
one time, than can be used in the course of half an hour, 
as it quickly hardens. The hive may be used as soon as 
the paint stiffens.” 
Hives that have stood in the sun, ought never to be 
• Roman, or common Ilydraullc cement Is probably meant, or would answer. 
6 * 
