CHAPTEE XVI. 



BEIVING, TBANSFEBBING, UNITING. 



At the close of the season a plan very generally 

 pursued by cottagers in taking their honey, is to 

 select those stocks by weight which are to be " taken 

 up." At the end of the day each marked hive is lifted 

 off its stand and placed over a hole dug in the ground, 

 in which a piece of sulphur is burning in a cleft stick. 

 In a few minutes the busy workers are stifled, some 

 falling to the bottom of the pit, others dying in the 

 combs, where many remain during the whole process 

 of slicing and draining and the making of mead. No 

 wonder that the fluid, resulting from such a method 

 of procedure, should fail to find ready purchasers. 

 Happily, this distasteful system is giving way gradually 

 to more satisfactory methods of taking the honey in 

 its purest form, without destroying the bees, which 

 latter prove of great service if properly disposed of. 

 First, they may be united to weak stocks, and thus 

 ensure their passing safely through the winter, as the 

 greater the number of bees, the less the consumption 

 of stores for the purpose of keeping up the normal 



11 l6, 



