FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 7:S 



;ind then I drop (he queen right among the bees on the middle 

 of the comb. 



On this first visit I also generally enter in the record-book 

 the amount of brood present. If the record is "2 br," or "3 br," 

 it means that two combs or three combs are fairly well filled 

 with brood — at least half filled with brood. If the record is 

 " br in 2," that means that brood is found in two combs, but 

 that at least one of them is less than half full. So you will see 

 that " br in 3 " might be a good deal less than " 2 br," for " 2 

 br " might mean two very full combs, and at the least will be 

 as much as one very full comb, while " br in 3 " may mean that 

 there is only a little spot of brood in each of three combs. 



Any other item that needs especial mention will be recorded, 

 but generally there is no record made beyond those mentioned. 



MENDING COMBS. 



Ill handling the combs, if any are found with drone-comb 

 or with holes in them, and if we are not too crowded for time, 

 the defects are remedied. Very likely I may turn over these 

 combs to my assistant, who mends them before they are returned 

 to the hive. The usual plan is to mend them in this way : 



She takes a common tea-knife with a thin, narrow, sharp 

 blade, cuts out the piece of drone-comb if the hole is not already 

 made, lays the frame over a piece of worker comb (this piece 

 of worker-comb may be the part or whole of some old or objec- 

 tionable comb), with the point of the knife marks out the exact 

 size and shape of the hole, removes the frame, cuts out the piece 

 and crowds it into the hole. 



Or the following plan may be used, especially if the frame 

 is wired : After the hole is made (the mice have probably made 

 the holes in the wired frames), the cells on one side are cut 

 away to the base for a distance of i/s to %, inch from the hole, 

 and a piece of foundation cut to the right size is placed over the 

 hole and the edge pressed down upon the base that surrounds 

 the hole. The foundation must not be too cold. Before fall 

 these patches cannot be detected, unless by the lighter color 

 where the foundation has been used. 



