FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 59 



frames, if the hives are to be cleaned out another tool is 

 needed. 



After trying a number of different things for hive- 

 cleaners, I have been best satisfied with a hatchet, the 

 handle sawed short, so that it will not be in the w^ay when 

 working in the bottom of the hive, the edge dull and 

 a perfectly straight line, and the outside part of the blade 

 also ground to a straight line and at right angles with the 

 edge. This right-angled corner is to clean out the corners 

 of the hive. In cleaning, the hatchet is moved rapidly 

 back and forth, or rather from side to side, the blade 

 being held at right angles to the surface being cleaned. 

 The weight of the hatchet is ciuite a help, something like 

 a fiy-wheel in machinery. 



It would be a nice thing to clean the propolis out of 

 all hives every spring, because I am in a region for 

 profitable propolis production if it ever comes to be a sta- 

 ple article of commerce ; but it takes some time to clean 

 the hives, and it is not done every spring. 



CLEANING HIVES. 



If the hives are to be cleaned, an empty clean hive 

 is ready in advance. The empty hive is placed at right 

 angles to the hive to be overhauled, the back end of the 

 empty hive near the front end of the other hive, thus 

 leaving plenty of room for my seat beside the full-hive, 

 and leaving the empty hive within easy reach. 



OPENING HIVE. 



A single pufi: at the entrance if the smoker is going 

 well, or two or three puffs if it is yet scarcely under 

 headway, notifies the guards that they needn't bother to 

 come out if they feel a little jar. The cover is cracked 

 open the least bit at one corner by the tool, then the 

 other corner is cracked open and the cover lifted. It 

 could be lifted without using the tool twice, simply pry- 

 ing rp one corner enough, but that would jar the bees 



