120 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



hive from a swarm in May. A few pounds of refuse 

 honey were given to the nadir, which is now (Jan. 20) 

 a strong hive. This nadiring is an old practice of ours 

 when we seek both honey and stock-hives from swarms of 

 the current year. But would it not be more profitable to 

 super them instead ? Perhaps it would, if honeycomb 

 realises a much higher price than run honey ; but two 

 things are to be considered. 1st, That nadirs give the 

 bees more scope for breeding, and hence nadired hives 

 gain weight faster than supered hives, all things being 

 equaL 2dly, That nadirs are generally better for stocks 

 than supered hives, inasmuch as supered hives are almost 

 always too fuU of honey and too scant of bees for keeping. 

 Bees much more naturally fill a nadir than a super. Where 

 run honey commands as high a price as honeycomb, either 

 eking or nadiring hives when full is much more profitable 

 than supering them. Every shrewd bee-keeper will soon 

 find out which system of enlargement puts most money 

 into his pocket. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 

 eking and nadiring prevent swarming. The use of supers 

 does not prevent swarming. A considerable risk is run by 

 bee-keepers who super only ; swarms are so apt to leave 

 their hives. 



Nadirs may be used sometimes as artificial swarmers. 

 Suppose a hive is nearly, but not quite, ready for swarm- 

 ing : it will be quite ready in five or six days, but we 

 shall not be able to see it for fourteen days. WeU, 

 to save ouiselvas from any anxiety about losing a 

 swarm, we put a nadir below it. When we return to it, 

 a fortnight afterwards, the nadir is one-third filled with 

 combs. The two are cut asunder, without smoldng, and 

 placed on separate boards, then on separate stands, six or 

 ten feet apart. It is foHunate when the queen is in the 

 nadir hive, for, otherwise, the bees in. it would be apt to 



