24 
chapman’s handy-book. 
about 40 or 50 in the supers, the rest in the body boxes. 
Mr. Thomson, of Blantyre, says that with the Stewarton 
hive the increase is on an average 7 to 8 lbs. each day, the 
highest increase being 29 lbs. in three days, but he has 
been informed that the increase has been as much as 38 lbs. 
in three days. 
In the use of rings or supers , as they are called, Mr. 
Jesse tells us that if bees hang in clusters, as they often 
will do, on the outside of the hive late in the season and 
show no disposition to work, it is evident that there is a 
want of room in the hive. Three or four rings should 
be cut from the bottom of a straw hive, or what is better, 
the hollow cylinder recommended by Mr. Cotton, placed 
on the stand and the over-loaded hive put over it and 
the junction plastered with clay or mortar. The bees 
which hang idly outside will then return to the parent 
hive and begin to work. This hint should not be lost 
sight of in moist warm weather. 
4Ve have now arrived at the most important process 
connected with bee keeping— 
The Swarming and Hiving. 
A popular writer says, in speaking about bees, that a 
swarm will occasionally emerge from hives and bee-boxes 
in spite of every plan of preventing it. The signs of 
swarming are some of them appreciable by the most 
expert bee masters only. A common sign of the emer¬ 
gence of a swarm is inactivity in work and clusters of 
bees hanging from the alighting board, and if the 
weather is moist and warm the swarm, may be expected 
with a certainty—from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. has been stated 
as the period within which swarming occurs. A strong 
swarm, let us observe, will consist of from ten to twenty 
thousand bees; a second swarm of about five thousand, 
and to assist in counting—two thousand bees will fill a 
pint measure. Few sights are more exciting than a 
swarm of bees—the air is clouded with them and vocal 
with their united music. As soon as the queen bee 
settles, the bees cluster around her and hang from the 
branch on which she is; then when the great mass forms 
a compact cluster, take your bee box or hive, hold it with 
