1HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



61 



three inches of the hottom, run two 

 sticks one-half inch or more in diam- 

 eter. This is your drumming box 

 Saw out from a piece of board one- 

 half inch or less thick strips one- 

 eighth of an inch, and one inch longer 

 than your movable frames are deep. 

 These are your transferring strips. If 

 you can afford it, get a piece of heavy 

 hoop iron two inches wide and two 

 feet long, and bevel one end like a 

 chisel. This is your transferring 

 chisel. If you cannot obtain this, a 

 large butcher or carving knife will 

 answer, but not so well. These four 

 articles I have described minutely. 

 They are very simple, but indispen- 

 sible to successful and rapid work. 

 Go to box hive No. 1 and give the 

 bees quite a little smoke at the en- 

 trance, say three or four puffs, wait 

 about five minutes and then turn the 

 hive upside down, take your swarming 

 box and place it, bottom up, on top of 

 the overturned hive. Having before 

 hand obtained two sticks half an inch 

 in diameter and eighteen inches long, 

 begin to rap smartly on the sides of 

 the upturned hive. Before long you 

 will hear a low hum, and if you raise 

 the edge of the transferring box you 

 will observe the bees marching up in 

 it. This operation is equivelant to 

 artificial swarming, the bees being fulf 

 of honey and having left their home. 

 Lift the transferring box off the hive 

 and rest it on something so its edges 

 will be a few inches off the ground. 

 Carry your hive (which is now almost 

 free of bees) to your operating room, 

 garret, cellar or house, and with your 

 transferring chisel separate the combs 

 from the sides of the hive by shoving 

 the chisel down their edges next to 

 the wood. Now split off one of the 

 sides of the hive and the work of re- 



moving the combs is simple enough. 

 Remove one and carry it to your 

 transferring board, which being pad- 

 ded, will not injure the brood cells, 

 and lay it flat. Place one of your 

 frames on this comb and cut the comb 

 to fit, observing that the brood shall be 

 distributed as evenly as possible, your 

 frame will now slip down on to the 

 board and will permit you to pass the 

 strips, before spoken of, into the 

 grooves beneath the comb so that they 

 project a quarter of an inch below 

 bottom of frame. Place strips to cor- 

 respond on top of comb and tie the 

 ends of each pair of strips together, 

 when you lift up your frame, your 

 comb is in position and secure. Pro- 

 ceed with all the comb, piecing when 

 necessary and putting on strips to hold 

 them together. Hang these combs in 

 a hive and leave them there for a few 

 minutes while you dump the bees 

 from your transferring box into an 

 empty hive. Assuming that the hive 

 you have just drummed had plenty of 

 brood, you must now take your empty 

 drumming box to a weaker colony and 

 drum it up as directed for first one. 

 Now bring out the hive containg the 

 brood of the first colonies and dump 

 these bees into it. Now you see you 

 have equalized things by giving the 

 larger amount of brood to the weaker 

 colony. The next colony you drum 

 should be a strong one, to which you 

 give the brood of No. 2, and so at the 

 end, you give the first colony, the brood 

 of the last one. Tnis sounds like a 

 great deal, but one man can transfer 

 ten colonies in a day with ease, for I 

 have done it myself. In a few days 

 you can go to the hives, cut the top 

 string holding the strip, and by pull- 

 ing on one loosen the lower tie, thus 

 getting them out, without disturbing 

 the bees. Transferring must be done 

 by the novice about apple-blossom 

 time, when there is quite a little honey 

 coming in, thus guarding against rob- 

 bing, and also enabling them to pro- 

 duce the wax and energy to repair 

 and fasten the combs. — B r K. M r 

 (N. F.) 



