The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families

handfuls of balm in those hives which are to be united, which by giving them the same smell, they will be unable to distinguish one another. After this preparation, the hives are to be joined by placing them one upon the other, in the evening when they are at rest, and taking away those boxes which are nearly empty. All the little doors must be closed, except the lowest.----If bees are kept in single straw hives in the usual way, the manner of hiving them is somewhat different. They are first allowed to swarm, and having settled, they are then taken to the hive. If they fix on the lower branch of a tree, it may be cut off and laid on a cloth, and the hive placed over it, so as to leave room for the bees to ascend into it. If the queen can be found, and put into the hive, the rest will soon follow. But if it be difficult to reach them, let them remain where they have settled till the evening, when there will be less danger of escaping. After this the hive is to be placed in the apiary, cemented round the bottom, and covered from the wet at top. The usual method of uniting swarms, is by spreading a cloth at night upon the ground close to the hive, in which the hive with the new swarm is to be placed. By giving a smart stroke on the top of the hive, all the bees will drop into a cluster upon the cloth. Then take another hive from the beehouse, and place it over the bees, when they will ascend into it, and mix with those already there. Another way is to invert the hive in which the united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive into it as before. One of the queens is generally slain on this occasion, together with a considerable number of the working bees. To prevent this destruction, one of the queens should be sought for and taken, when the bees are beaten