My Bees 149 



my soap-box to get the bees into the new hive, 

 which I did within forty-eight hours, I found 

 that they had already begun making comb and 

 the queen had begun to lay eggs. I made the 

 transfer without difficulty. During this second 

 year my two hives gave me between them 

 forty-seven pounds of honey in boxes, and 

 thirty-two pounds of honey which I cut from 

 the frames. I found that the best honey 

 season in that part of the country was not in 

 the spring, but in the late autumn, the golden- 

 rod affording most of the supply. At the close 

 of the second summer I prepared the bees as 

 usual and left them out in the snow for the 

 winter. 



In May following I increased my number of 

 hives to four by taking out half of the bees in 

 each of my two hives and putting them into 

 new hives. The process is too complicated for 

 description here; every bee-book gives a de- 

 tailed account of how to do it. I succeeded 

 perfectly. From my two old hives came a 

 swarm apiece, both of which I succeeded in 

 catching. This gave me six hives. The third 

 year resulted in a harvest of 120 pounds in 



