32 
chapman’s HANDY-BOON. 
and cut out combs with impunity while the bees are bard 
at work witbin. . 
To return to what Mr. Cotton was sayingIt they 
settle on a branch which is too long to cut off, or one 
which you do not like to destroy—an apple tree, for 
example—you must vary your mode of action. Have the 
hive held close under the swarm, so that the long beard of 
bees may bang down into the hive itself, till it touches the 
bottom (or rather the top), then give the bough a sudden 
shake, and the bees will fall down into the line ; biush off 
into it with a feather any clusters which may still be clinging 
to the bough; then, still holding the hive in the same 
position, put the bottom board on it, as a sort of cover to 
the bees. By the help of another person turn the hive 
into its proper position, and set it on the ground, near the 
foot of the tree on which they settled. After four or five 
minutes’ confinement, raise up one side of the hive by 
means of a stick, so as to give the bees who are still flying 
about access to their fellows, and if the queen is safely 
hived, they will all speedily join her. But if you see that 
the stream of bees is setting out of the hive rather than 
into it, you may suspect that all is not right; search any 
cluster which you may see lying on the ground near the 
hive, any bunch which may still be on the tree, and if you 
see the queen, seize her gently and put her into the hive. 
If you have not nerve sufficient to enable you to search for 
her majesty, just wait till the cluster outside is large 
enough to be sure the queen is among them, and do the 
same thing over again. There is a daring gentleness 
required in managing bees that can only be learned by 
practice—that both Mr. Wood and Mr. Cotton tries to 
impress upon young bee masters. 
Second Swarms 
give more certain signals of swarming. If you put your ear 
close to the top of the hive in the still of the evening, some 
days after the first swarm has risen, you will hear these 
signals, cries very unlike any other ever heard from a bee¬ 
hive. One cry is that of the reigning queen, the other is that 
