Take a piece of this prepared fungus, as large as a hen's egg, (it is better to have too much of it than too little to begin with) ignite one end of it with a candle, and then put it into the fumigating-lamp,—next fix the lamp in its socket over the Bee-receiver, and place the whole inside the bag, as shown in the plate, and untie B—the fastening round the middle. In a very short space of time the Bees in the hive placed upon the top-board (which is necessarily the first thing to be attended to in every operation of this kind) will be totally under your control. The operator should be particularly careful to close every vacancy, however small, that there may happen to be between the top-board and the edge of the hive, by tying a cloth round it—the hive—as soon as ever it is placed upon the board. This precaution will prevent the escape of any of the fume, and will also prevent the Bees from annoying the operator during the time he is making the arrangements necessary previously to every fumigating process.
In the course of a minute or very little more you will hear the Bees dropping like hail into their receiver, at the bottom of the fumigating apparatus.
When the major part of them are down, and you hear but few fall, gently beat the top of the hive with your hands, in order to get as many down as you can. Then, having loosened the cloth, lift the hive off and set it upon a table, or upon a broad board, prepared for the purpose, and knocking the hive against it several times, many more Bees will fall down, and perhaps the Queen amongst the rest; for, as she generally lodges near the crown of the hive, or is driven thither by the fume, and surrounded and protected there by the other Bees to the very last, and as long ever they have the power loyally to cling round her, she often falls one of the last. If the Queen is not among the Bees on the table, search for her among the main body in the Bee-receiver; first, however, putting them upon the table, if you discover her not before lying among the uppermost Bees therein.
During this search for the Queen, or with as little delay as possible, you, or some one for you, should be proceeding in a similar manner with the Bees in the other hive, with which those already fumigated are to be united. As soon as the Bees of the hive last fumigated are all composed and quiet, and you have found and secured one of the Queens, you may put the Bees of both hives together into an empty one, for the purpose of mingling them thoroughly together, and of sprinkling them at the same time with a little ale and sugar; this done, put them and one only of the two Queens among the combs of the hive you intend them to inhabit, and gently shake them down into it. When you have thus got all the Bees of your two hives into one, cover it with a cloth and closely bind the corners of that cloth about it, and let them stand during that night and the next day, shut or closed up in this manner, so that a Bee may not get out; but not so close as to smother them for want of air.
In the evening of the following day, having previously removed the hive, containing your united-stock, to its proper stand, viz. that which it had occupied before the operation, loose the corners of the cloth and remove it from the mouth of the hive, and the Bees will, with a great noise, immediately sally forth; but being too late to take wing, they will presently go in again; and remain satisfied in and with their new abode—new at least, to one-half of them, and new to the other half also when transferred into a fresh hive, or into boxes.
But in taking away the cloth discretion and caution must be used, because the Bees will for some time resent the affront put upon them by such to them, no doubt, offensive treatment.
The best time of the year for unions of weak stocks with strong ones is in autumn, after the young brood are all out—in the latter part of August, or any time during September: but for removals of stocks from straw-hives into boxes, the best time is early in the spring before the eggs of the Queen have changed and quickened into larvæ,—I will say—in the month of March; and if the weather is cold, it is advisable to perform the operation in a room where the temperature is about 60 degrees. For if Bees are displaced, that is—taken from their hive, in a cold atmosphere, it is but rarely that they recover from the effects of the fume so as to marshal themselves into working order in a box or new hive. But this they can do, and will do most effectually, under this agreeable temperature. As twelve hours are sufficient for the Bees to regain their former independency in their new domicil, you may place them at the end of that period on their summer stool, and they will work, as soon as the weather will permit them, as if they had never been removed from their former hive, nor in any way disturbed.
The great number of operations of this kind, which I have performed before hundreds of admiring and gratified spectators, chiefly of the higher ranks of society, renders it almost unnecessary for me to observe—that once being present at and witnessing it, will convey a more perfect idea of the whole performance than any written description of it can give. If, however, any gentleman, or other apiarian friend, who has not yet seen the performance of this operation, should be desirous of witnessing it, the author will freely undertake that, or any other Bee-service in his power, by which he can oblige, assist, or instruct him.
The same degree of precaution is not necessary on the removing of the Bees of a cottage-hive on my principle; it is only requisite in the particular case of joining or uniting two or more hives together, that such nice management need be observed. And certainly the more expeditiously the whole is performed, the more pleasing will be the result of the operation, and the more certain of success.