dition to
this, the necessity of having a skillful Apiarian at each establishment,
puts its adoption out of the question, with most persons who keep bees.
It might answer, however, if two bee-keepers, sufficiently far apart,
would enter into partnership, and manage their bees as a joint concern.
Dzierzon's new plan of creating nuclei, is as follows. Towards evening,
remove a piece of brood comb, with eggs and bees just hatching, and put
it, with a sufficient number of mature bees, into an empty hive; there
must be enough to keep the brood from being chilled over night. If the
operation is performed so late that the bees are not disposed to take
wing and leave the hive, by morning a sufficient number will have
hatched, to supply the place of those which may abandon the nucleus. In
my numerous experiments last Summer, in the formation of artificial
swarms, I tried this plan and found that it answered a good purpose; the
chief objection to it, is the difficulty often of selecting the suitable
kind of comb, if the operation is delayed until late in the afternoon. I
prefer, therefore, to perform it, when the sun is an hour or two high,
and to confine the bees until dark. If there are not a sufficient number
of bees on the comb, I shake off some from another frame, directly into
the hive, and shut them all up, giving them a supply of water. Sealed
queens if possible, should be used in all these operations.

I shall now give a novel mode of creating nuclei, which I have devised,
and which I find to be attended with great success. Hive a new swarm in
the usual manner, in an old box, and as soon as the bees have entered
it, shut them up and carry them down into the cellar. About an hour
before sunset, take combs suitable to form as many nuclei as you judge
best, say five or six, or even eight or ten if the swarm was large, and
you need as many. Bring up the new swarm and shake it out upon a sheet,
sprinkling it gently with sugar-water. With a large tumbler or saucer,
scoop up without hurting any of the bees, a pint or more of them, and
place them before the mouth of one of the hives containing a brood comb;
repeat the process, until each nucleus has, say, a quart of bees. If you
see the queen, you may give the hive in which you put her, three or four
times as many bees as any other; and the next day it may be strengthened
with a few combs containing brood, just ready to mature. If you did not
find her, at the time of forming the