TREATMENT OF SWAEMS AND STOCKS. 49 



this plan ia less perfect and more tronblesome than the previous one. 

 It is most important that no bees be admitted from other hives 

 to regale themselves around the bottle. Our hive covers should 

 be made, if possible, proof against them, but iu cases where the=,e 

 have been wanting, we have had made a little canvas or calico bag 

 large enough to slip over the feeding bottle easily, and have sewn 

 into its hem a child's large bead necklace which costs Id., and this 

 cover at once so fits itself to the hive top, that no inquiring bee can steal a 

 single sip. Ten or twelve such bags about an apiary would often save 

 trouble from robbing, so likely to follow the discovery of ill-protected 

 sweets. It may seem strange, but it is really true, that if a swarm be 

 judiciously fed, it will do much better for some days if the weather be 

 very bad, than if it be fine. In the first case all the bees remain at home 

 feeding, and comb-building ; while, if the weather entice them, their 

 energies and time also are partially consumed abroad. Few have yet 

 forgotten the wretched wet spell during lime blossom in 1875. The day 

 before it set in, we had a fine cast which was fed constantly, and had pea- 

 flower (See " Artificial Pollen ") given to it at the hive door, when it 

 made, during weather such as we rarely see, most unusually rapid pro- 

 gress ; neglect would have so disheartened a swarm similarly oiroum. 

 stanced, that it would have done little when sunshine returned. 



Sticks running through skeps are recommended by some straw hivists, 

 rightly, as we think, from the fixist's point of view ; these should all run 

 one way, so as to be at right angles to the comb. Direction is given to 

 the building of the bees, by placing in the skep a guide, that is, a narrow 

 piece of toughish comb, which can be fixed to a slip of thin wood, which 

 iu turn can be nailed to the skep crown, we prefer, as neater, painting 

 the part to which the guide is be attached three or four times with wax, 

 and then, while the wax is stiU liquid, pressing the guide well on to it, 

 holding it till it is secure. If sticks are to be used, we must, iu making 

 forced swarms, drive into a hive without sticks, and transfer the bees, as 

 the former would considerably impede our search for the queen. 



Those who adopt the movable comb system can utilize any waste pieces 

 of worker comb by fixing them to the bars of the frames, when they not only 

 act as guides, but assist the bees. " To attach them, invert the frame, 

 paint it well with wax, which heat again with a hot iron, and press the 

 comb into its place.* The top of the comb should first be made flat 

 by cutting with a knife, or rubbing upon an inverted heated laundry iron. 



The movable comb system necessitates straight building. In re- 

 ference to this matter, as the whole working of the apiary depends 



* In Prance and Germany common glue is often used for this purpose. Tlie pro- 

 cess is most simple : Glueing tlie frame and dipping the comb, and then bringing 

 the two into contact, being all that is necessary. The bees treat the glue as 

 propo:is, and complete the fixing to their own taste. 



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