104 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 
THE BEE-KEEPER’S CALENDAR.— June. 
By J. II. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper s 
Guide,” dec. 
It frequently happens, where bees are managed 
upon the depriving system, that, for want of timely 
room and ventilation being given, a swarm comes off 
from the stock-hive, leaving the bell-glass or small 
hive which has been placed upon it in an unfinished 
state. Now, whenever this happens, let the swarm 
he hived into “ The Improved Cottage Hive,” and 
the bell-glass or small hive, with the adapter, imme¬ 
diately removed from the stock-hive and placed upon 
the newly-hived swarm; and, as soon as the bees are 
a little settled (say in 15 minutes), remove the newly- 
hived swarm to the place in which it is intended to re¬ 
main, care being taken to fasten down the straw cover 
upon the parent hive ; for no further profit can he ex¬ 
pected from it beyond a second, and, perhaps, a third 
swarm, which are almost sure to follow. In this 
method of immediately removing a swarm to the 
apiary, Gelieu agrees with me, and for which he gives 
the following reasons:—“ Most people who have bees 
allow their swarms to remain till the evening in the 
place where they have alighted, and do not move 
them to the apiary till after sunset. This method has 
many inconveniences; as soon as a swarm has con¬ 
gregated in the new hive, and seems to he at ease in 
it. the most industrious amongst the bees fly off to 
the fields, hut with a great many precautions : they 
descend the front of the hive, and turn to every side 
tn examine it thoroughly, then take flight, and make 
S'ime circles in the air, in order to reconnoitre their 
new abode ; they do the same in returning. If the 
swarm has taken flight in the morning, the same 
bees make several excursions during the day, and 
each time with less precaution, as, becoming familiar¬ 
ized with their dwelling, they are less afraid of mis¬ 
taking it; and thus, next morning, supposing them¬ 
selves in the same place, they take wing without 
having observed where they have spent the night, 
and surprised, at their return, not to find the hive in 
the same place, they fly about about all day in search 
of it, until they perish with fatigue and despair. 
Thus many hundreds of the most industrious la¬ 
bourers are lost, and this may be entirely avoided if 
tire swarms be removed as soon as the bees are per¬ 
ceived coming out: this sign is alone sufficient.” 
Experience has long since proved that the custom of 
beating warming-pans and the like at the time a 
swarm leaves the hive is perfectly useless. The best 
method is to watch the swarm in silence, and after it 
lias once collected, to lose no time in hiving it into a 
new, clean , and dry hive. Much trouble may be spared 
the bees if the loose straws be removed from its in¬ 
terior; and the best method of effecting this is, first 
to singe them with a wax taper, and afterwards to 
remove them with a hard brush. 
Putting Glasses or Small Hives upon Swarms. 
—The most proper time for putting the bell-glass, or 
small hive or box, upon a swarm, will be from the 
eighteenth to the twenty-first day after their being 
hived; and should it be quickly filled, and more room 
required, which may be known by the crowded state 
of the bees inside the glass, and by their being seen 
to cluster at the mouth of the hive at nine or ten in 
the morning, let no time be lost in lifting up the 
glass, aud placing between it and the stock-hive a 
small hive or box with a hole in the top (see p. 305, 
vol. i.). It is necessary to use this precaution at all 
times, but more especially in a rainy season, as a 
greater disposition amongst the bees to swarm then 
prevails. “ Dry weather makes plenty of honey, 
and moist of swarms,” says good Mr. Purchase ; and, 
however incorrect this position may at first sight 
appear, the attentive observer will quickly become 
convinced of its truth. 
Second Swarms. —A second swarm generally leaves 
the hive about nine days after the first, but the time 
may he exactly ascertained by standing quietly beside 
the hive after sunset, when the queen may be dis¬ 
tinctly heard “to tun in hir treble voic,” (Butlers 
Feminin Monarch!, Ed. 1643,) which is a certain in¬ 
dication that a second swarm will leave the hive. 
Should two or three queens be heard one after the 
other, it will be on the following day, if the weather 
be not very unfavourable. Should the queens con¬ 
tinue to pipe after the departure of a second swarm, 
a third will certainly follow in a few days; but if one 
or two queens be found dead beneath the hive on the 
next morning, no more swarms can be expected. 
Joining Swarms. —I must here observe, that second 
and third swarms are very seldom, if ever, worth pre¬ 
serving by themselves; but two second swarms, when 
joined, are very little inferior in value to a first 
swarm, and the union is very easily effected in the 
following manner. When two second swarms, or a 
second and third, come off on the same day, hive 
them separately, and leave them till an hour and a 
half after sunset ; then spread a cloth upon the 
ground, upon which, by a smart and sudden move¬ 
ment, shake all the bees out of one of the hives, and 
immediately take the other and place it gently over 
the bees that are heaped together upon the cloth, 
wedging up one side about half an inch, that the 
bees outside may pass under, and they will instantly 
ascend into it and join those which, not having been 
disturbed, are quiet in their new abode. Next morn¬ 
ing, before sunrise, remove this newly-united hive to 
the place in which it is to remain. This doubled 
population will work with double success and in the 
most perfect harmony, and generally become a strong 
stock, from which much profit may be derived. 
Two second swarms, or a second and third, may be 
joined in the same manner, although one of them 
may have swarmed some days or even weeks later 
than the other; taking care, however, not to make 
the first one enter the second, but the second the first. 
A third and a fourth parcel of bees may be joined to 
them at different times in the same way till the stock 
becomes strong. It is almost impossible sufficiently 
to impress upon the mind of every one who keeps 
bees, the necessity of having his stocks all strong; 
for weak stocks are very troublesome, very expensive, 
and seldom, if ever, afford any profit. 
Mr. Taylor says, “ the stronger the colony at the 
outset, the better the bees will work, and the more 
prosperous it will become. I never knew a weak 
one do well long; and a little extra expense and 
trouble at lirst are amply rewarded by succeeding 
years of prosperity and ultimate profit.” And, again, 
“ thus strength in one year begets it in succeeding 
ones; and this principle ought to be borne in mind 
by those who imagine that the deficient population 
of one season will be made up in the next, and that 
the loss of bees in the winter is of secondary conse¬ 
quence, forgetting how influential is their warmth to 
the earlier and increased productive powers of the 
queen; and how important it is, in the opening spring, 
to be able to spare from the home duties of the hive 
a number of collectors to add to the stores, which 
would otherwise not keep pace witli the cravings of 
the rising generation.”* 
* These extracts are from Taylor’s “Bee-keeper’s Manual,” one 
of the best, cheapest, and easily-referred-to works on the subject we 
have met with.— Ed. C. G. 
