ARTIFICIAL, SWARMING. 
181 - 
Thousands of the bees that belong to B, as they return 
from the fields,* will enter A, which thus secures enough 
to develop the brood, rear a new queen, and gather, if the 
season is favorable, large surplus stores. 
If B had been first forced, and then removed, it would 
(p. 15C) have been seriously injured ; but as it loses fewer 
bees than if it had swarmed, and retains its queen, it 
will soon become almost as powerful as before it was re- 
moved.! 
This method of forming colonies may be practiced, on 
any pleasant day, from sunrise until late in the afternoon ; 
for if no bees are abroad to recruit the drummed hive, 
it may be shut up, until it can be put upon the stand of 
any strong stock which has already begun to fly with 
vigor. Of all the methods which I have devised for prac- 
ticing artificial swarming, { with almost any kind of 
hive, this appears to be one of the simplest, safest, and 
* It is quite amusing to observe the actions of these bees, when they return to 
their old stand, if the strange hive is like their own in size and outward appear- 
ance, they go In as though all was right, but soon rush out in violent agitation, 
imagining that by some unaccountablo mistake, they have entered the wrong 
place. Taking wing to correct their blunder, they find, to their increasing surprise 
that they had directed their flight to the proper spot; again they enter, and again 
they tumble out, in bewildered crowds, until at length if they find a queen, or the 
means of raising one, they make up their mintjs that if the strange hive is not 
home, it looks like it, stands where it ought to be, and is, at all events, the only 
home they are likely to get. No doub* they often feel that a very hard bargain 
has been imposed upon them, but they are generally wise enough to make the best 
of it. They will bo altogether too much disconcortod to quarrel with any bees 
that were left in the hive when it was forced, who on their part give them a wel- 
come reception. 
t Might not a forced swarm bo made to adhere to a new location, by thoroughly 
shaking them in an empty box — see note on p. 1G3 — and thon setting them on their 
new stand, and permitting them to fly ? The queen might be confined, for safety, 
in a queen-cage. 
X The Apiarian, by treating a natural swarm as he has been directod to treat a 
forced one, can socuro an increase of one colony from two ; and of all the methods 
of conducting natural swarming, in regions where rapid increase is not profitable, 
this is the best, provided the colonies do not stand too close together, and the 
hives used in tho process are alike in shape and color. 
