Should it, however, so happen, as it sometimes may, owing to a variety of causes, such, for instance, as the negligence, or unskilfulness, or unavoidable absence of the Bee-master at a critical time, or from any other cause, should it, I say, so happen that the pavilion, or middle-box, should swarm, take such swarm into one of the end-boxes, prepared for such an event, by merely making an entrance to it, at or as near as possible to the corner farthest from the entrance into the middle-box; and before this new entrance fix a small alighting board. The swarm will thus become a family of itself, and as much a stock pro tempore, as if it were placed on a separate stand, provided the dividing-tin, which separates the middle-box from that in which the swarm is put, be carefully adjusted, and made perfectly tight and secure, so that a Bee cannot pass from one box to the other. To this material point the apiarian will necessarily attend when he first removes the end-box in order to put the swarm into it. In the evening place the box containing the swarm on its floor, just where and as it was before it was taken off. Let the Bees thus managed work two or three weeks, or as the nature of the season may require,—I mean—until the end-box appears to be pretty well filled with combs. Then close up the exterior entrance of the collateral-box containing the swarm of Bees, and draw out the sliding-tin which hitherto has separated the two families or colonies, and the Bees will unite, and become one family. The apiarian will likewise witness with pleasure the effect of ventilation in the hive; for as soon as the Bees have deposed one of the Queens, and the end-box has been cooled by means of the cylinder-ventilator, he will discover that the combs will be presently emptied of every material necessary for the support of the young larvæ; so that the combs, that had been so recently constructed for a seat of nature, soon become receptacles for pure honey, and the numerous Bees become the subjects of one sovereign in the middle-box.
This is a neat method of re-uniting a swarm to its parent-stock; and the operation is so easy that the most unpractised apiarian may perform it without subjecting himself to the slightest danger of being stung by the Bees. It can however only be practised with Bees in boxes. Another and a more prompt method of returning a swarm to its parent-stock, and which is practicable with swarms from cottage-hives, as well as with those from boxes, is the following.
After the swarm has been taken in the usual way into an empty box, or into a straw-hive, and suffered to settle and cluster therein for an hour or two, gently and with a steady hand take the box or hive, and, having a tub of clean water placed ready and conveniently for the purpose, with a sudden jerk dislodge the Bees from the box or hive and immerse them in the water. Let them remain therein two or three minutes: then drain it off through a sieve, or other strainer, and spread the now harmless Bees—harmless, because apparently half-drowned, upon a dry towel or table-cloth, and search for and secure the Queen. This done, and which may very easily be done, place a board or two in a slanting direction from the entrance of the parent-hive to the ground; upon this lay the cloth on which are your immersed Bees, and spread them thinly over it, in order that they may the sooner become dry; and, as they become dry, you will with pleasure see them return to their native-hive, which they will be permitted to enter without the slightest opposition from the Bees already therein.
By this operation not only are the immersed Bees cooled, but their re-union with those already in the hive cools them also, and considerably lowers the temperature of the whole stock. With a late swarm from any sort of hive, as well as with an accidental swarm from boxes, this is a good method to be adopted; and, if the apiarian possess sufficient coolness and dexterity to perform it cleverly, it is a practice I would recommend whenever it is advisable to return a swarm to its native-hive. When a swarm has thus been returned to a cottage-hive an eke should be added forthwith.
Before I further explain the nature of my collateral Bee-boxes, I shall briefly express my desire that my readers will attend particularly to the discovery of the effects of ventilation. I have been asked—"Of what use is ventilation in the domicil of Bees?" I answer—one of its uses has already been described, and much more of its use, I may say, of its necessity, in the humane management of Bees will be told presently. Many treatises on the management of these valuable insects have appeared, but in none of them do I find any allusion to this important point—important in my practice at least, and essentially necessary in it. Therefore—
To works of Nature join the works of man,
To show, by art improved, what Nature can.
Nature's great efforts can no further tend,
Here fix'd her pillars, all her labours end.
Dryden.
Perhaps the divided labour of the Honey-Bees was anticipated by the author of these lines: but, be that as it might, I, in my turn, will ask—How can we preserve the Bees uninjured, divide their works, and take away their superabundant treasure, without the influence of ventilation? I think it is impossible. A lesson, a true lesson from nature, has demonstrated this fact to me, and twelve years' constant labour and attention to this important subject have put into operation my plans for the welfare of that wonderful insect—the sovereign Queen of Bees. Well might Dr. Bevan say—
First of the throng, and foremost of the whole,
One stands confess'd the sovereign and the soul.
Curious facts respecting this extraordinary creature are before me, which have been ascertained and proved by means of my observatory-hive. This hive is unknown in any work hitherto published on the interesting subject of Bee-management: and with reference to it I may observe—that when a new principle is discovered by studying nature, such principle will seldom fail to produce effects beneficial in proportion to its being understood and skilfully applied. So simple and so rational (if I may so say) is my observatory-hive, that it cannot but be approved, when it is once understood, by the followers of my apiarian practice. Be my humble theory what it may, it hath truth for its foundation; and by perseverance and industry I flatter myself I shall materially improve, if not bring to perfection, the cultivation and management of Honey-Bees, merely by pointing out how the produce of their labour may be divided, how a part thereof may be taken away, a sufficiency be left for the sustenance of the stock, and how their lives may be preserved notwithstanding.