, will be more easily effected, as there will be more
room to operate to advantage. If bees were disposed to fly away at once
from their combs, as soon as they were taken out, it would be very
difficult to manage them, but so far are they from doing this, that they
adhere to them with most wonderful tenacity. I have sometimes removed
all the combs, and arranged them in a continued line, and the bees have
not only refused to leave them, but have stoutly defended them against
the thieving propensities of other bees. By shaking off the bees from
the combs upon a sheet, and securing the queen, I can, on any pleasant
day, exhibit nearly all the appearances of natural swarming. The bees,
as soon as they miss their queen, will rise into the air, and by
placing her on the twig of a tree, they will soon cluster around her in
the manner already described.

A word as to the manner of catching the queen. I seize her very gently,
as I espy her among the bees, and by taking care to crush none of them,
run not the least risk of being stung. The queen herself never stings,
even if handled ever so roughly.

In removing the frames from the hive, it will be found very convenient
to have a box with suitable rabbets in which they may be temporarily
put, and covered over with a piece of cotton cloth. They may thus be
very easily protected from the cold, and from robbing bees, if they are
to be kept out of the hive for some time; and such a box will be very
convenient to receive frames that are lifted out for examination. In
returning the frames to a hive, care must be taken not to crush the bees
where their ends rest upon the rabbets; they must be put in slowly, so
that a bee, when he feels the slightest pressure may have a chance to
creep from under them, before he is hurt.

The honey-cover, for convenience, is generally in two pieces: these
cannot be laid down on the hive, without danger of killing many bees;
they are therefore very carefully _slid_ on, so that any bees which may
be in the way, are pushed before them, instead of being crushed. If any
bees are upon such parts of the hive as to be imprisoned if the outside
cover is closed, it should be left a little open, until they have flown
to the entrance of the hive. It cannot be too deeply impressed upon the
bee-keeper, that all his motions must be slow and gentle, and that the
bees must not be injured or breathed upon. If he will carefully follow
the directions I have given, he may