Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/215

Rh From another hive, made of straw, that hung out in the same manner, we extracted a swarm by a method described by some of the older Bee-masters, and with equal success: We carried the full hive into a dark place,—turned it up,—fixed it in the frame of a chair from which the stuffed bottom had been removed,—placed an empty hive over it, joining them mouth to mouth,—and partially drove it. As soon as we perceived that about half of the bees had ascended into the empty hive,—knowing that in these cases the queen is generally amongst the foremost,—we immediately replaced the old hive on its former station, and removed the new one containing the queen, to a little distance. As the former had plenty of eggs and young brood, they were at no loss to procure another queen; while the other having a queen, proceeded to work in all respects as a natural swarm. With such a hive as Huber's, or any other square-shaped hive that opens in two parts vertically, the