FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 75 



PENDULUM PLAX OF SHAKING. 



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Often it is desirable to shake the bees back into the 

 hive. In that case brushing may be better than shaking, 

 but the pounding plan serves very well. A space may be 

 made by shoving the combs apart, and the frame to be 

 pounded held well down in the hive. But many times 

 It is as well to shake the bees on the ground. This may 

 not be so advisable if the queen is likely to be among the 

 shaken bees. Yet I have often shaken the queen off 

 among the bees on the ground, and I am not sure that 

 she ever failed to find her way with the bees back into 

 the hive. \\'hen the Dees are to be shaken on the ground 

 the pendulum plan is used almost altogether. With the 

 right hand I take hold of one end of the top-bar, letting 

 the frame hang with the bottom-bar pointing forward, 

 and then swinging the frame backward like a pendulum 

 I let it swing again forward, and then as it falls back I 

 let the lower end of the top-bar strike the ground in 

 such position that a diagonal from the point that strikes 

 the ground to the opposite end of the bottom-bar shall be 

 nearly vertical. It is easier than the other plans, and 

 takes less time. 



BEE-BRUSHES. 



Sometimes it is not desirable to get all the bees off, 

 in which case, or with very light combs, no brushing is 

 needed. But if all the bees are to be cleaned off, and 

 the combs are not very light, then brushing must be re- 

 sorted to. I know of no brush better than one made of 

 some growing plant, such as asparagus, sweet clover, 

 goldenrod, aster, etc. Xo little bit of a thing, but a good, 

 big bunch, well tied together with a string (Fig. 'IT). 



But like many a thing that costs nothing, these weed 

 brushes are too expensive, for they dry up so that a fresh 

 one must be made every day, and that takes a good deal 

 of time. So I generally use a Coggshall brush (Fig. 28). 

 The essential thing about a Coggshall brush is that it 

 must be made of long broom-corn with a very thin brush, 



