186 
THE U^^ E AND HONET-BEE. 
colonies, (7, &c., always roinain vndisturheJ on the 
stands where they are first put. 
Diderzon has noticed the great nuniLer of bees which 
may, at intervals, be removed from a stock-hive, if it only 
retains a fertile queen, and sufficient adhering bees ; and 
says tliat be has known as many bees to be lost, in a single 
day, from a strong stock, by high winds* or sudden storms, 
as would suffice to make a respectable swarm. 
This able Apiarian, who unites to the sagacity of Huber, 
an immense amount of practical experience in managing 
bees, has for years formed his artificial colonies chiefly 
by removing the forced swarms to a distant Apiary. 
Though this plan has some decided merits, and might suit 
two persons—sufficiently far apart—who could agree to 
manage their bees as a joint concern, the expense of 
transporting the bees makes it objectionable to most bee¬ 
keepers. From the beginning, my plans for artificial in¬ 
crease were mainly with reference to a single Apiary ; and 
it would seem, from the recent discussion in the Annual 
Apiarian Convention (p. 20), that the German bee-keepers 
are fast adoj)ting the same method. 
l>y making holes on the inside of the bottom-board of 
my liivesf—the glass ones excepted—artificial swarming 
may be practiced in a way approaching still nearer to 
natural swarming than any yet described. About a week 
or ten days before the artificial swarm is to be made, 
put an empty hive C, on the top of a strong stock A — 
jnaking the entrance of C to fiice in the opposite way 
♦ If forage Is very abundant, bees are almost crazy to get it, however windy the 
weiither, and some Apiariana, on such days, confine them to ihelr hives. 
t These holes are sibiilur to those iu the spare honey*bonrd (Pi. Vlll., Fig. 21X 
Bi)C are closed in th« same way, when not in uso. They permit the beea to corn* 
mnnlcate, where the hives arc piled one on the top of the other; and the upper 
hive may be used as a place for the storage of surplus honey in small boxes, o* 
(PI. X., Fig. 23\ in large or small frames. 
