SWARMING AND HIVING. 161 



close garret. If bees are to be put in hives through which 

 the heat of the sun can penetrate, the proces? should be ac- 

 complished in the shade, or if this cannot conveniently be 

 done, the hive should be covered with a sheet, or shaded 

 with leafy boughs. If a hive with my movable frames 

 is used, these should all be furnished, or at least, every 

 other one, with a small piece of worker-comb, attached to 

 the center of the frame, with melted wax or rosin. With- 

 out such a guide comb, the bees will almost always work 

 some of the combs out of the true direction, and this will 

 interfere with their easy removal. A sheet of comb, not 

 larger than five inches square, will answer for all the frames 

 of one hive. If even so small a piece of comb as this can- 

 not be procured, let a thin line of melted wax be drawn, 

 lengthwise, over the middle of each frame, and let the colony 

 be examined, on the second day after hiving, and all the frames 

 which contain irregular comb, be removed. This comb 

 may be cut off, and attached so as to serve as a proper guide 

 to the bees. The possession of six frames containing good 

 worker comb, and wrought with perfect accuracy, may 

 be made by the following device, to answer a most admira- 

 ble end. Put them into a hive with six empty frames ; first a 

 frame with comb, then an empty one, &c. After the bees 

 have had possession of this hive two or three days, visit 

 them, and very politely inform them that the full frames 

 were intended as a loan, and not as a gift ; and that having 

 served to set them an example how they should work, you 

 must now have them to teach other young swarms the 

 same useful lesson ; and that jhe new combs which they 

 have built with such admirable regularity, are beautiful 

 patterns for the empty ones which you must give them. In 

 this way, the same combs may be made to answer for 

 many successive swarms. 



