eatedly, and have never, when they were early, failed to secure from
them a large quantity of honey. In sprinkling bees, let the operator
remember that they are not to be _drenched_, or almost drowned, as in
this case, they will require a long time to enter the hive. Bees seem to
recognize each other by the sense of smell; and when they are made to
have the same odor, they will always mingle peaceably. This is the
reason why I use a few drops of peppermint in the sugar-water.

If one of the queens of the forced swarms can be returned to her own
colony, it will of course, save them the time which would otherwise be
lost in raising another. I do not know that I can better illustrate the
importance of the inexperienced Apiarian following carefully my
directions, than by supposing him to return the queen to the colony to
which she does not belong. Now I can easily imagine that some bee-keeper
may do so, conceiving that I am foolishly precise in my directions, and
that the queen might be just as well given to one hive as to the other.
But if this is done before at least 24 hours have elapsed since they
were deprived of their own, she will almost certainly be destroyed. The
bees do not _sting_ a queen to death, but have a curious mode of
crowding or knotting around her, so that she is soon smothered; and
while thus imprisoned, she will often make the same piping note which
has already been described. In all this treatise, I have constantly
aimed to give no directions which are not important; and while I utterly
repudiate the notion that these directions may not be modified and
improved, I am quite certain that this cannot be done by any but those
who have considerable experience in the management of bees.

The formation of one new swarm from two old colonies, may, of course, be
very much simplified by the use of my hives. The two old hives are first
opened and sprinkled, and the bees taken from them and put into the new
hive in the same way in which the process was conducted when only one
colony was expelled, some brood comb being given to the united family.
There will be no difficulty in rightly proportioning the bees; one queen
may always be caught and preserved, and the operation may be performed
at any time when the sun is above the horizon. I have no doubt that
those who have a strong stock of bees, and who are anxious to realize
the largest profits in honey, will find this mode of increase, by far
the simplest and best.