268 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



place. Please understand that the stand holds its num- 

 ber, and that when the hive that was on stand 237 is 

 moved as stated it is now No. 235. We now have on 

 235 a hive full of brood and bees without any queen, and 

 while it will lose the old flying force it had, it will get 

 the flying force that belongs to its present stand. The 

 colony that was moved from 235 will, of course, lose its 

 flying force, and will take its time to recuperate. 



The bees on these two stands — 235 and 237 — were 

 the principal actors throughout the season, the other col- 

 onies in the apiary merely serving as feeders from which 

 to draw brood from time to time. On 237 was left the 

 hive of empty combs, the queen, and the constantly in- 

 creasing flying force. We now go to the other colonies 

 and draw from them wdiat brood they can spare without 

 depleting them unwisely, leaving foundation in place of 

 the brood. Looking at the record I find this w^as only 

 four frames of brood. No bees were taken wdth this 

 brood. An upper story was put on 237 and these four 

 frames of brood put in it with four empty combs. Of 

 course the queen and bees would soon be up in this upper 

 story. 



Matters were left in this shape for nine days, the 

 plan being to visit the apiary every nine days throughout 

 the summer. A stormy day, however, might extend the 

 time to ten days, or Sunday coming on the ninth day 

 might shorten the time to eight days. 



At the expiration of the nine days, June 21, we re- 

 turned. We took the brood with queen-cells and all 

 bees from 235, and formed two nuclei. Just why we did 

 not 'start three I don't know, for usually w^e started a 

 nucleus w^ith tw^o frames of brood, and w^e must have had 

 more than four frames of brood. No measures were 

 taken to make these bees stay where they were put ; it 

 w^as not necessary with such queenless bees. 



Then, we took the upper story of 237, with all its 

 brood and bees, and put it on 235, taking out the queen 

 and putting her back in the lower story on 237. Then 



