400 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



of brood as you would like for your nuclei, then be satisfied to make 

 a smaller number of nuclei. Set it down as a matter of very bad 

 policy to make your full colonies too weak by drawing brood from 

 them. Always leave four or five frames of brood in the hive. 



Your greatest danger will be in starting too many nuclei. It is 

 so easy to make them that you will be likely to have a whole lot 

 without enough to help to build them up, and then winter will 

 catch you with a lot of weaklings that will be gone by Christmas. 

 You will get on faster in the long run if you go slower at the start. 



When you find you will not need to give any more help to the two, 

 three or more nuclei you have started, because they already have 

 four or more frames of brood each, then you may start more nuclei. 

 When the first formed nuclei have five or more frames of brood, then 

 you may draw brood from these to start fresh nuclei or to strengthen 

 those already formed. Thus you may keep on, always keeping an 

 eye out for the close of the season, being sure to get all built up before 

 the season becomes too late. You may count pretty certainly that 

 you will try to increase too much, and will have some weaklings to 

 your sorrow, and it may do little good to warn you, but please re- 

 member that you did not do so without warning. 



You have been told to start a nucleus with two frames of brood. 

 Three would be better, and you will always keep in mind the possi- 

 bility that many of the bees will be likely to return where they were 

 taken from, so besides the bees that adhere to the comb® taken it 

 may be well to take a few bees from the other combs. T^o or 

 three frames of brood have been mentioned, but it is always well 

 to have also a comb of honey to start a nucleus. There is something 

 about it that keeps them in better heart, aside from the fact that 

 without a frame of honey the bees may starve. When a nucleus is 

 first started, it is wise to allow a verv small entrance, for robbers 

 are likely to be on the lookout, and any newiy placed nucleus re- 

 ceives from them special attention. On that account it is never safe 

 to form nuclei at any time when honey is not coming in pretty freely, 

 for there is always less danger of robbing when bees find work in 

 the field. 



RENDERING BEESWAX. 



If you work for extracted honey, it will be an easy matter to get 

 from the cappings a nice cake of beeswax. A good deal of beeswax 

 may also be got by saving all scraps of comb, and sometimes whole 

 combs may be melted up because crooked or containing too much 

 drone comb. 



It is somewhat difficult to get all the wax out of old combs, be- 

 cause the cocoons act like so many sponges, taking up the melted 



