72 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



united with another colony. A quilt was 

 spread over the tops of the frames, then, 

 on top of all, was set one of the half- 

 stories with a wire screen tacked to the 

 lower side, the half-story being filled 

 with sawdust. Of course, this work 

 could be done only on warm days, but 

 Nature seemed to favor me in that 

 direction, giving me one every week or 

 two. 



CARE OF EMPTY COMBS. 



In spite of all this, colonies would 

 dwindle away and die. 1 expected that 

 they would, but I was doing all that I 

 could to prevent it. Good care was 

 taken of the combs. They were not left 

 with dead bees matted between them to 

 mould, and rot, and spoil the combs. All 

 were carefully cleaned, when necessary, 

 and stored away in empty hives, carefully 

 closed against mice and squirrels. 

 Empty combs put by themselves, those 

 with a little honey by themselves, and 

 those with a lot of honey by themselves. 

 If 1 needed a comb of honey at any time, 

 there was no time lost in hunting over a 

 lot of combs to find it. 



When the lowest ebb was reached, 

 when the colonies stopped dying, and 

 some of them began to increase by the 

 hatching of brood, when things finally 

 started on the up-grade, 45 hives con- 

 tained live bees; perhaps half of the 

 colonies were on three combs, each; 

 one-fourth on four or five combs; the 

 rest occupying full hives. When settled 

 warm weather came, and the bees began 

 to crowd against the division boards, I 

 pulled out the board? and let the bees 

 spread out as fast as they thought best. 

 When 1 thought it was late enough to be 

 safe, 1 opened up some of the hives of 

 combs and allowed the bees to clean out 

 the honey. 



I ought not to have sold any of these 

 bees, but I had done so, and accepted the 

 pay for them, before I had expected any 

 such denouement; accordingly, early in 

 June, 25 colonies were prepared for ship- 

 ment by robbing weaker ones of combs 

 of bees and brood. This left me with 20 



of what were really three-frame nuclei, 

 the fore part of June. There were some 

 500 or 600 empty combs, and these I 

 guarded with jealous care all summer. 

 We all know that in a lot of combs like 

 this, the bee moth's larvae will make sad 

 havoc, sometimes, with some of the 

 combs, and leave others untouched. I 

 sorted them over quite often, and when I 

 found a comb showing signs of the be- 

 ginning of this destruction, I used this 

 comb in making increase. By placing 

 the combs an inch or more apart, and 

 exposing them to the light and air, such 

 mischief can usually be prevented. 1 

 tried this, but mice and squirrels made 

 such havoc that 1 had to shut the combs 

 into the hives. 



REINFORCEMENTS— TRANSFERRING. 



About July 1st 1 bought ten colonies 

 of bees and added them to my apiary. 

 This, and the manner in which I used 

 them, can scarcely be called part of a 

 retreat; it might more appropriately be 

 called turning the tide of the battle by 

 means of re-inforcements. It is a little 

 early in the season to tell how I managed 

 them, but, it will probably be read with 

 more interest now, right on the heels of 

 this retreat, than it would be later in the 

 season. 



These new colonies were in hives of an 

 odd shape, hence I could not use them in 

 connection with my old colonies. I wished 

 to use the bees and brood in building up 

 my weak colonies, and, eventually, to 

 transfer the combs to the regular Langs- 

 troth frames, and I wished to do this in 

 the best way, and with the least labor. 

 Here is how 1 managed: First, I set 

 these ten colonies down right close by 

 the side of my ten weakest colonies. 

 After they had been there two or three 

 days, until the bees had thoroughly 

 marked their locations, I then moved the 

 hives and set them by the side of the ten 

 other colonies. Of course, the flying 

 bees returned and joined the weak 

 colonies, giving them a handsome boost. 

 About a week later these ten colonies 

 that I had bought were given independent 



