e better nourish and keep
themselves warm.

The hours of their swarming are for the most part about twelve o'clock
at noon, never before eight, and seldom after four in the afternoon.

The symptom of swarming, is generally the unusual number of bees seen
hanging at the mouth of the hive, and if a piping noise, or a shrill
note, which is made by the queen is heard, it is a sure index the bees
will swarm, if the weather be warm and dry.

If the bees work a comb under the floor-board, as is sometimes the case,
it is a sign they will not swarm; a more certain sign is when they throw
out the young dead queens with the drone brood. When they retain the
drones in the hives after August, it is a bad omen, as they are then
reserved for the sake of the young queens, which they are expecting to
raise; and the season being too far advanced, and their failing in the
attempt, and being without a queen, the colony will most certainly
dwindle away, before the next season.

Always choose a hive proportionable to the size of your swarm, and
prepare to hive them as soon as possible, lest they should rise again.
It is not unusual to ring a bell or tinkle a brass pan, &c., at the time
the bees swarm; it is also a common method to dress the hives with
honey, balm, &c.

I mention these things, because they are customs of long standing: the
tinkling of bells is of little use, as the bees will generally settle
near the hive; and as to dressing the hives, I by no means recommend it,
as the bees like a clean new hive much better, for it does not give them
so much trouble to clean, &c.

If the swarm should rise in the full heat of the day, and the sun shine
hot upon them, they will not continue long in their first situation; for
when they find they have all got their company together, they will soon
uncluster, rise again, fly to some particular spot which has been fixed
upon for that purpose by detached parties of bees, who return and
acquaint the swarm; therefore I would advise to hive them as soon as
possible, and remove them in the evening to the place where they are
to remain.

The supposed relative value of early and late swarms is thus mentioned
in an old English proverb:--

A swarm in May,
Is worth a load of hay.
A swarm in June,
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm in July,
Is not worth a fly.

SWARMING AND HIVING THE BEES.

Every good swarm should weigh about 5 lbs., and according to the account
given in K