MANIPULATING BEES. 33 



fuel in A is kept alight. Most smokers are provided with a 

 hand-guard, D, to prevent the operator from burning his hands. 

 Brown paper is a very good description of fuel to use ; it should 

 be rolled up loosely, lighted, and placed in the cylinder, a — 

 lighted side downwards. Sacking, old corduroy, hemp-carpet, 

 etc., may also be used as fuel for a smoker. 



When not being used during a manipulation, the smoker 

 should be stood upright, so that the contents may stay alight. 



How to Manipulate. 



The operator, having put on his bee- veil, and got his smoker 

 well alight, proceeds to the hive and takes off the roof. 

 A corner of the quilt is then raised, and the nozzle of the 

 smoker placed underneath, and slowly drawn along the ends of 

 the frames underneath the quilt, the bellows being kept work- 

 ing, so as to blow the smoke into the hive. Next, a corner of 

 the quilt at the other side of the hive is raised, and smoke intro- 

 duced at the other ends of the frames ; thus every seam of bees 

 is smoked. A little smoke may also be blown in at the hive's 

 entrance. 



Having given the bees a minute or so to gorge, the quilt is 

 slowly rolled back, smoke being very gently blown along the 

 top bars to keep, the bees down. The quilt is only moved oft 

 two or three frames at first. The operator then moves the 

 division-board two or three inches back, and gently takes out 

 the frame next to it, taking care not to jar it by any sudden 

 jerk, which would anger the bees. The frame, having been 

 examined, is replaced in the hive close against the division- 

 board ; and the next frame is taken out, examined, and re- 

 placed close against the first one. The remaining frames are 

 similarly treated. The great advantage of moving back the 

 dummy-board is, that when a frame is returned to the hive, it 

 has not got to be wedged in between the two other frames 

 standing close together, which invariably irritates the bees, 

 owing to the brushing of the bees and combs against each 

 other. The manipulation being completed, the frames are 

 moved forward again, as is also the dummy-board. 



Manipulating a Full Hive. 

 When a hive is quite full of combs, it would be impossible to 

 move the dummy back. In this case the frame next to one side 



