iO PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING. 



comb. THese condemned beea are of service also in strengthening stocks 

 otherwise not populous enough to enter upon the winter. They must be 

 added with the precautions given under the head " Uniting." 



In plannir an apiary, let it be remembered that it is by no means 

 necessary tha- the hives should face the south or south-east, as some say; 

 the well doing of the colony being apparently so little affected by this 

 that authorities may be found pleading for the advantages of each 

 point of the compass ; and where hives are necessarily somewhat crowded 

 placing the alighting boards in different directions considerably reduces 

 the difficulties arising from excessive proximity. Thus, if four hives be 

 placed in a close line running from east to west, and face in the sequence 

 east, south, north, west, the young queens would not be at all endangered, 



from the cause pointed 

 out already (see Bee 

 Houses), and the bees 

 would hardly be likely to 

 get on terms too friendly 

 — a common cause, un- 

 happily, of a quarrel, 

 both with bees and their 

 masters. 



With such a disposi- 

 tion of flight holes, hive 

 ranges for three or four 

 stocks, such as seen at Fig. 48, may with convenience and economy be 

 substituted for separate stands. 



Skeps are commonly purchased vrith the idea of transferring their 

 contents into frame hives, an operation not by any means difficult. 

 Having cleared out the bees by " Drumming " (see Chapter VI.), we 

 proceed to draw all sticks, if such exist, either seizing them by a pair of 

 nippers at the projecting ends, and rotating them, to detach them 

 from the combs, or, we may minimise the destruction of bee handy- 

 work by sacrificing the skep, simply cutting it in half while inverted, 

 by passing through its sides, and between the combs, a sharp dinner 

 knife. If we refuse to destroy the skep honey knives must be used. 

 Of these there are two, one used to out combs from the sides of the 



— I hive, and which a piece of 



II straight hoop iron from 



14in. to 18in. long, and 



ground at the end may well 



replace ; while the other 



(Pig. 49) consists of an iron or steel rod about 2ft. long and 5-16ths of an 



inch thick, having 2in. at its extremity turned to a right angle. The latter 



part is formed into a cutting blade, the surface of which is horizontal 



Fia. 48, Hive Eakge. 



Fig. 49. Hohey Khife. 



