166 PLEA8UBABLE BBE-KEEPING. 



as regular as possible must be cut out of the best 

 combs and arranged to fit the frames. It will seldom 

 occur that more than two, or at the most three, frames 

 can be filled by the cutting up and fitting of the combs 

 in the skep. Again, one lot of bees in a straw skep to 

 start a bar-frame hive is ridiculous. Two or three lots 

 making a weight of 4 or 5 lbs. would produce a lot 

 ■likely with proper attention to be converted into a 

 good colony for the spring, particularly if new combs 

 or full sheets of foundation are given. It is much 

 more satisfactory to proceed in the manner indicated, 

 and do away with the old combs, cutting out all 

 worker comb containing brood. These pieces of comb, 

 joined together by a skewer or two, a space of half an 

 inch being left between them, should be placed over 

 the feed-hole of any hive, and securely covered first 

 with a small wooden box, and above that with quilts. 

 The bees will hatch out the brood, and thus no great 

 loss of bees will accrue. 



Uniting has been referred to as a means of strength- 

 ening stocks in the autumn, and thus ensuring more 

 satisfactory wintering ; or, in the spring, to ensure 

 rapid progress and hence more surplus. This will, of 

 course, also be the natural result of uniting in the 

 autumn, for the increased strength of the colony will, 

 by assisting to winter a colony successfully, also be a 

 means towards obtaining a good working population 

 at the commencement of the honey-flow. 



Bees of different colonies, having an odour peculiar 

 to their respective lots, have a natural antipathy one 

 to the other, and though a comb taken out of a stock 

 without disturbing the bees during the honey-flow, 



