376 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



nical Series No. 14, Bureau of Entomology. Price 10 cents. This 

 bulletin may be had from the Superintendent of Documents, Wash- 

 ington, D. C, at the price affixed. 



We urge every one who has not already a copy of this paper, the most 

 up-to-date work on the subject in any language, to secure one. 



Get Rid of the Box Hive. 



Do not allow one to persist in the country. In order to progress 

 in bee keeping, there is nothing more detrimental and hindering. 



A box hive is an absolute handicap to any bee keeper. If there is any 

 brood disease in his region, the box hive is a sure trap, and endangers 

 all the bees for a radius of miles. In it the disease can get headway and 

 exist for a long time without being discovered, unless you are unusually 

 familiar with its symptoms. The colony in the hive weakens; robber 

 bees enter, fly back to their hives, and nine to one contaminate their 

 own combs. 



Furthermore, a box hive is of no advantage to the owner. You are 

 limited in the amount of honey you get. You can not inspect your 

 bees, nor force them, nor build them up when necessary. You simply 

 have to let them alone. However, if this be your policy, you can as 

 well have your bees in a frame hive, and at least set the good example, 

 or have semblance, of up-to-dateness. 



It is not difficult to transfer your bees from box to frame hive, if you 

 do it in the spring, or fourteen to eighteen days after a prime swarm. 

 It is then that the brood and honey are light, and of little hindrance. 



Transferring from Box to Frame Hives. 



The methods of transferring are all essentially the same. Funda- 

 mentally, it consists in driving out the bees with the queen, which is 

 imperative, and cutting out the combs. These, as you wish, may be 

 fitted into frames and given back to the bees in the new hive, or may be 

 melted down for the wax and honey. 



When preparing for a transfer, make ready a frame hive. Have also 

 a "forcing box" about the diameter of your box hive, into which to 

 drive the bees. You will need for tools a hammer, heavy chisel, broad- 

 bladed bread knife, some strings or tapes or elastic bands with which to 

 secure the combs in the frame, some dishes to receive the surplus combs 

 and honey, and a pail of water in which to wash your hands of honey. 

 For the drumming, two heavy sticks or the hammers may be used. 



In making the transfer, a warm day, when the bees are flying freely 

 and are less cross, will be found preferable. 



After all is in readiness, we usually commence by pounding for two 

 or three minutes on the sides of the hive with the sticks. This at once 

 arouses the bees to filling themselves with honey. The moment that 

 they appear full and begin to "march" out of the entrance, pick the 



