with paper or any
convenient material. The upper hive ought to be furnished with two or
three slats, about an inch and a half wide, and fastened one third of
the distance from the top, so as to give the bees every opportunity to
cluster.

As soon as the Apiarian is perfectly sure that the bees cannot escape,
he should place an empty hive upon the stand from which they were
removed, so that the multitudes which return from the fields may enter
it, instead of dispersing to other hives, where some of them may meet
with a very unkind reception; although as a general rule, a bee with a
load of freshly gathered honey, after the extent of his resources is
ascertained, is almost always, welcomed by any hive to which he may
carry his treasures; while a poor unfortunate that ventures to present
itself empty and poverty stricken, is generally at once destroyed! The
one meets with as friendly a reception as a wealthy gentleman who
proposes to take up his abode in a country village, while the other is
as much an object of dislike as a pauper who is suspected of wishing to
become a parish charge!

To return to our imprisoned bees. Beginning at the top, or what is now,
(as the hive is upside down,) the bottom, their hive should be beaten
smartly with two small rods on the front and back, or on the sides to
which the combs are attached, so as to run no risk of loosening them.
If the hive when removed from its stand was put upon a stool or table,
or something not so solid as the ground, the drumming will cause more
motion, and yet be less apt to start any of the combs. These "rappings"
which certainly are not of a very "spiritual" character, produce
nevertheless, a most decided effect upon the bees: their first impulse
is to sally out and wreak their vengeance upon those who have thus
rudely assailed their honied dome; but as soon as they find that they
are shut in, a sudden fear that they are to be driven from their
treasures, seems to take possession of them. If the two hives have glass
windows, so that all the operations can be witnessed, the bees, in a few
moments, will be seen most busily engaged in gorging themselves with
honey. During all this time, the rapping must be continued, and in about
five minutes, nearly every bee will have filled itself to its utmost
capacity, and they are now prepared for their forced emigration; a
prodigious hum is heard, and the bees begin to mount into the upper box.
In about ten minutes from the