WEIGHING HIVES. 1,85 



It may be as well to keep them confined a few hours, 

 giving them water at the top, until they make the 

 combs secure ; the new hive will then be less likely to 

 offer an attraction to bees from other hives, who, if felo- 

 niously inclined, might come to rob. This transfer 

 should be made when the weather ^s such that the bees 

 can fly about : when not warm enough, it should be done 

 in a room at a temperature of about 70 degrees. An ex- 

 pert apiarian could perform the operation in less than 

 three quarters of an hour, and with little loss. A week or 

 so after a swarm has left the old stock is perhaps the 

 very best time for such a removal. Should the operation 

 be performed in the open air, the bees from surrounding 

 hives will be sure to come in great numbers to obtain a 

 share of the honey necessarily exposed, for they delight 

 in plunder. In order, therefore, to avoid annoyance to 

 the operator, and the excitement which is certain to be 

 induced in surrounding hives, it is better to conduct the 

 dissection in some building with closed doors. In some 

 instances a routing of this kind has a beneficial effect ; 

 old. stocks of hives that have previously appeared to be 

 dwindling are often aroused to activity by their removal 

 into a fresh domicile. 



WEIGHING HIVES, &c. 



One of the most effectual modes of ascertaining the 

 condition of a hive is by weighing it. Such knowledge 



