ARTIFICIAI> SWARMING. 
203 
queen-cage, with a suite of w^ell-fed worker.s, arrived in 
safety, at the Apiaiy of a friend, on tlie nexi day. 
Great caution is not only requisite in giving a hive a 
strange queen, but in all attempts to mix bees belonging 
to different colonies. Bees having a fertile queen will 
almost ahvays quarrel W’ith those having an unimpregnated 
one; and this is one reason w'hy a furious contest, in 
which thousands perish, often ensues w'hen new swarms 
attempt to mingle. 
Members of different colonies appear to recognize their 
hive-companions by the sense of smell, and if there should 
be a thousand stocks in the Apiary, any one will readily 
detect a strange bee ; just as each mother in a large flock 
of sheep is able, by the same sense, in the darkest night, 
to distinguish her own lamb from all the others. It w'ould 
seem, therefore, tliat colonies might alwaj's be safely 
mingled, by sprinkling them with sugar-water, scented 
with peppermint or any other strong odor, W’hich W'ould 
make them all smell alike. 
A few seasons ago, however, I discovered that bees 
often recognize strangers by their actions, even wdien they 
have the same scent; for a frightened bee curls himself 
up with a cowed look, which unmistakably proclaims that 
he is conscious of being an intruder. If, therefore, the 
bees of one colony are left on their own stfind, and the 
others are suddenly introduced, the latter, even when 
both colonies have the same smell, are often so frightened 
that they are discovered to be strangers, and are instantly 
killed. If, however, both colonies are removed to a new 
stand, and shaken out together on a sheet, they ■will 
peaceably mingle, w'hen scented alike.* 
• I find aubstantially the same thing recommended, In 1778, by Thomas ‘Wild- 
man (page 280 of the 8rd edition of his valuable work on Bees), who says, that 
bees will “unite while in fear and distress, without fighting, as they would be apt 
^ do, If strange boos wore added to a hive in possession of its honey ’ 
