With bar-frame hives the making of artificial swarms becomes an easy matter, and more than one plan may be adopted. In the first place, suppose it is desired to transfer into a skep a swarm from a wooden hive, for sending to a distance. The preliminary operations are as follows: Towards evening, remove the stock a few yards from its stand, and have ready the skep on a wide board, and propped up two or three inches in front. Next puff smoke into the midst of the bees, to quiet them, and to induce them to fill their honey-bags. Then lift the frames one after another, and search for the queen till found. Take her gently between the first finger and thumb, seizing her by the wings, place her at the entrance of the skep, and see that she runs in. Shake on to the board, close to the skep, the bees from the frame on which the queen is found, and, after replacing it in its own hive, take out and shake off bees from other frames in succession, till a sufficient amount to make a swarm has been let run into the skep. They, with their sovereign, will ascend to the crown of their abode, and then may be secured by tying a cloth over the open part of the straw hive, and despatched to their destination. Of course the frames must be replaced in the stock hive as they are cleared. The remaining bees will soon make a new queen for themselves, and will care for the developing brood. Judgment must be exercised, so as not to weaken too greatly the population of the parent-hive. Another method, still simpler, is to begin operations in the morning of a bright day, and to shake off the queen and bees from two frames only, and put the colony on to the old stand, removing the stock to a distance of a few yards. The bees abroad for supplies will, on their return, remain with their queen, and make up a sufficiently strong community; while the young, and those who prefer the old stock, will be sufficient to meet its requirements. A third plan is to take the frame on which the queen is, with bees and brood, and place it, with two or three other frames from the same stock in another hive, which should be placed on the old stand. Foragers returning from the fields will, as in the preceding case, reinforce the new colony, while the stock, moved to a little distance, will soon repair the loss of their queen, and hatch out young bees in place of those transferred to another home.