CHAPTER XI.
HOW TO EXPEL THE BEES FROM THE CAPES.
It is in the heat of the day that the honey should be taken from the capes. A number of bees will always be found (commissioned no doubt) to guard the treasure.
Various methods are resorted to, to expel them without smoking. Some carry the cape to a distance from the apiary, turn it upside down, rest it on the ground, and cover it with a napkin, leaving on one side a space of about a finger-length uncovered, to allow an exit to the bees, which, escaping by this opening, return to their habitation; and, to hasten their departure, some one knocks, from time to time, on the outside.
Others take a cape of the same size, place it over the full one that is turned upside down, bind them round with a napkin, to intercept all passage to the bees, and force them to ascend into the empty cape by tapping gently on the full one. They soon go up into the empty cape, calling on each other, and flapping their wings; and, when they are all housed, replace them again on the parent hive whence they were withdrawn; and, if the season is favourable and the honey abundant, they soon set to work again.
I prefer this last method, which is the speediest and easiest.