SWARMING AND HIVING. 
137 
abandoned; nor should the hive ever be put over the 
bees, so as to crush any of them, or endanger the life of 
the queen. A skillful bee-keeper, with his hiving-basket, 
will often hive six or more swarms, in the time required, by 
the old plan, for hiving one ; and in large Apiaries managed 
on the swarming plan, where a number of swarms eotne out 
on the same day, and there is constant danger of their 
mixing, this is an object of great importance. 
Dr. Scudamore, an English physician, who has written a 
tract on the Formation of Artificial Swarms, says that he 
once knew as “ many as ten swarms go forth at once, and 
settle and mingle together, forming, literally, a monster 
meeting.” There are instances recorded of a still larger 
number having clustered together. A venerable cler¬ 
gyman in Western Massachusetts, told me, that in the 
Apiary of one of his parishioners, five swarms once clus¬ 
tered together. As he had no hive which would hold 
them, they were put into a large box, roughly nailed 
together. When taken up in the Fall, it was evident that 
the five swarmf had lived together as independent colo¬ 
nies. Four had begun their works, each near a corner of 
the box, and the fifth in the middle ; and there was a 
distinct interval separating the works of the different 
colonies. In Cotton’s “ My Bee Book,” is a cut illustrat¬ 
ing a similar separation of two colonies in one hive. By 
hiving, in a large box, swarms which have settled together, 
and leaving them undisturbed till the following morning, 
they would probably be found in separate clusters, and 
might easily be put into different hives. 
Swarming bees make a singular hissing or whispering 
sound, which often causes other hives in the Apiary to 
swarm. This is a frequent occurrence with discouraged 
or dissatisfied stocks, and I have occasionally had swarms 
which had only immature queens in their hive issue, on 
