5 2 
FOLLOWING THE BEE LINE 
they that handling is an easy matter. . . . The 
beekeeper, if he wishes to create a sensation, may 
even poke his fingers gently into their midst and 
detach a handful to show to amazed onlookers. 
And now for a very beautiful spectacle! When 
the big empty hive is ready, the bees are shaken from 
their receptacle onto a sloping board or a sheet lead¬ 
ing up to the hive entrance, and in they “march.” 
One after another they stream into the hive, the 
queen carried along by the rush of the others. On, 
on, on they go, without a look or step backward. 
. . . Thousands of little figures, like a miniature 
army, all clad alike in golden-banded uniforms of 
service. Till at last all are in and a hum goes up 
from the hive telling that they are happily settled 
and starting to build comb. 
But if the queen should happen to have lost her¬ 
self in the grass or under the hive, or if she has been 
injured and unable to accompany the others, they 
will enter their new domicile reluctantly and move 
restlessly about inside searching for her, and a dis¬ 
tinct cry of discontent and anxiety will be heard. 
When the queen is picked up and put inside the 
hive, their reluctancy to enter vanishes and their joy 
as they rush in to rejoin her is touching. 
Now that the swarm is hived and a new com- 
