296 THE BEE KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



queen, they will often destroy her, if they came from a 

 family which was in possession of a fertile one ! If any 

 thing of this kind is ever attempted, the queen ought first to 

 be confined in a queen cage. If while attempting a trans- 

 fer of the bees to a new hive, I am apprehensive of robbers 

 attacking the combs, or am pressed for want of time, I put 

 only such combs as contain brood into the frames, and set 

 the others in a safe place. The bees are now at once allow- 

 ed to enter their new hive, and the other combs are given 

 to them at a more convenient time. The whole process of 

 transferal need not occupy more than an hour, and in some 

 cases it can be done in fifteen minutes. If the weather 

 is hot, the combs must not be exposed at all to the heat 

 of the sun. 



Until I had tested the feasibility of transferring bees from 

 the old hives, by means of my frames, I felt strongly op- 

 posed to any attempt to dislodge them from their previous 

 habitation. If they are transferred in the usual way, it 

 must be done when the combs are filled with brood ; for if 

 delayed until late in the season, they will have no time to 

 lay in a store of provision against the Winter. Who can 

 look without disgust, upon the wanton destruction of thou- 

 sands of their young, and the silly waste of comb, which 

 can be replaced only by the consumption of large quantities 

 of honey } In the* great majority of such cases, the trans- 

 fer, unless made about the swarming season, and previous 

 to tlie issue of the first swarm, will be an entire failure, and 

 if made before, at best only one colony is obtained, instead 

 of the two, which are secured on my plan. I never advise 

 the transfer of a colony into any hive, unless their combs 

 can be transferred with them, nor do I advise any except 

 practical Apiarians, to attempt to transfer them even to my 

 hives. But what if a colony is so old that its combs can 



