34

32 CHAPMAN'S HANDY-BOOK

and cut out combs with impunity while the bees are hard
at work within.
To return to what Mr. Cotton was saying:- If they
settle on a branch which is too long to cut off, or one
which you do not like to destroy - an apple tree, for
example - you must vary your mode of action. Have the
hive held close under the swarm, so that the long beard of
bees may hang down into the hive itself, till it touches the
bottom (or rather the top), then give the bough a sudden
shake, and the bees will fall down into the hive; brush off
into it with a feather any clusters which may still be clinging
to the bough; then, still holding the hive in the same
position, put the bottom board on it, as a sort of cover to
the bees. By the help of another person turn the hive
into its proper position, and set it on the ground, near the
foot of the tree on which they settled. After four or five
minutes' confinement, raise up one side of the hive by
means of a stick, so as to give the bees who are still flying
about access to their fellows, and if the queen is safely
hived, they will all speedily join her. But if you see that
the stream of bees is setting out of the hive rather than
into it, you may suspect that all is not right; search any
cluster which you may see lying on the ground near the
hive, any bunch which may still be on the tree, and if you
see the queen, seize her gently and put her into the hive.
If you have not nerve sufficient to enable you to search for
her majesty, just wait till the cluster outside is large
enough to be sure the queen is among them, and do the
same thing over again. There is a DARING GENTLENESS
required in managing bees that can only be learned by
practice - that both Mr. Wood and Mr. Cotton tries to
impress upon young bee masters.

Second Swarms

give more certain signals of swarming. If you put your ear
close to the top of the hive in the still of the evening, some
days after the first swarm has risen, you will hear these
signals, cries very unlike any other ever heard from a bee-
hive. One cry is that of the reigning queen, the other is that