METHODS OF TAKING HONEY. 107 



" driving." For the first of these, hives of two 

 stories are mostly employed. Immediately after 

 the swarming season another story, or box, is 

 added, either above or below, and one of those 

 filled with honey is taken away. If this be done 

 early enough in the season, there will be time for 

 the bees to fill the empty story before winter ; but 

 if it be delayed, as is sometimes the case, until the 

 beginning or middle of September, then the bees, 

 having no opportunity of replacing what has been 

 taken away, will be starved before the winter is 

 over. This method of taking honey is by no 

 means general, apparently because, from an error 

 as to the time of performing the operation, it has 

 frequently failed. 



The second, or suffocating process, is effected 

 by taking strips of linen rag, dipping them in 

 melted brimstone, and placing them on a few 

 sticks in a hollow place in the ground : then 

 light is set to the rags, and the hive quickly set 

 over them. Every hole being stopped up to pre- 

 vent the escape of the sulphur fumes, the bees are 

 soon suffocated, and the combs discoloured. This 



