nuclei, when you afterwards examine
them, the one which contains her may be properly reinforced with bees
and comb, so as to enable it to work to the best advantage.

If this plan of forming nuclei, were attempted earlier in the afternoon
it would be difficult to prevent the bees from communicating on the
wing, and all going to the hive which contained their queen. If however,
the bees when first shaken out of the temporary hive, are so thoroughly
sprinkled, as not to be able to take wing and unite together, this mode
of forming colonies may be practiced at any hour of the day; and an
experienced Apiarian may prefer to do it, as soon as he has fairly hived
the new swarm. When the bees are shaken out in front of a hive which has
a sealed queen, or eggs from which they can raise one, having a whole
night in which to accustom themselves to their new situation, they will
be found, the next day, to adhere to the place where they were put, with
as much tenacity as a natural swarm does to their new hive. How
wonderful that the act of swarming should so thoroughly impress upon the
bees, an absolute indisposition to return to the parent stock. If this
were a fixed and invariable unwillingness, a sort of blind, unreasoning
instinct, it would not be so surprising, but we have already seen that
in case the bees lose their queen, they return in a very short time to
the stock from which they issued! If the nuclei formed in the manner
just described, found in their new hive, no means of obtaining a queen,
they would all return, next morning, to the parent stock.

When the Apiarian can obtain a natural swarm from any other Apiary, it
may be divided into nuclei in the same way, and even a forced swarm, if
brought from a distance, will answer equally well. If the Apiarian
wishes to form colonies earlier than the season of natural swarming, and
cannot conveniently obtain a forced swarm from an Apiary, at least a
mile distant, he may, before the bees begin to fly out in the Spring,
transport one of his stocks to a neighbor's, and force from it a swarm
at the desired time. Even if it is moved not more than half a mile off,
the operation will be almost sure to succeed. Of all modes of forming
the nuclei, this I believe will be found to be the neatest, simplest and
best.

Having thus described the various ways in which I have successfully
formed my nuclei, I shall now show how they may be all built up into
powerful stocks. It will be very o