SWARMING AND HIVING. 
139 
Swarms sometimes come off wlicn no suitable hives are 
in readiness to receive them. In such an emergency, 
hive them in any old box, cask, or measure, and j>lace 
them, with suitable protection against the sun, where their 
new hive is to stand; when this is ready, they may, by a 
quick, jerking motion, be easily shaken out before it, on a 
hiving-sheet. 
I have endeavored, even at the risk of being thought 
too minute, to give such directions as will qualify the 
novice to hive a swarm of bees, under almost any circum¬ 
stances ; knowing that however necessary, suitable infor¬ 
mation is seldom found even in the best treatises on bee¬ 
keeping. Vague or incomplete directions fail, at the very 
moment that the inexperienced attempt to put them into 
practice. 
Natural swarming may, unquestionably, be made highly 
profitable; and as it is the most obvious way of multiply¬ 
ing colonics, and requires the least knowledge or skill, it 
will undoubtedly be the favorite method with most bee¬ 
keepers, for many years, at least. I shall, therefore, show 
how it may be conducted more profitably than ever, by 
the use of my hives; many of its most embarrassing diffi¬ 
culties being effectually obviated. 
1. A serious objection to reliance on natural swarming, 
is the vexatious fact, that most swarming-hives are so con¬ 
structed, that, although bees often refuse to swarm at all, 
they cannot furnish to their crowded occupants the proper 
accommodations for storing honey. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances, hordes of useless consumers often blacken, 
for months, the outside of the hives, to the great loss of 
their disappointed owners. In the movable-comb hives, 
an abundance of storage-room can always be given to the 
bees; so that, if indisposed to swarm, they have recepta¬ 
cles easily accessible, and made doubly attractive by empty 
