32 THE CONTROLLABLE HIVE 
ones, every three or four years: if this is not done, 
queens will die or become barren from old age, and con- 
sequently loss of stocks follow; keep this point in your 
mind; young, healthy, prolific queens are essential to 
success,) as they will have ample room in the boxes for 
their labor. Occasionally a hive treated in this way will 
swarm, and if you wish to have no increase of stocks 
whatever, if a swarm comes out, hive it in a light box, 
and as soon as this is done, go to the hive which they 
came from and smoke lightly, if the bees are cross, lift 
out the comb frames from the brood section with the bees 
adhering ; examine each and every comb carefully, for 
queen cells, and cut off all but one. Success here 
depends on care and thoroughness, for if you leave more 
than one cell, your bees may swarm out again in a day 
or two. 
After this is done, spread a sheet on the ground ; set a 
light box, like the one in which you have the bees, near 
one side ; raise the edge towards where you will shake the 
bees one inch or a little more, to give the bees a chance 
to enter the box. Shake the bees from the hive, by a 
quick, jerking motion, upon the sheet, the most of them 
some two or three feet from the box. With a large 
spoon or ladle, put a few up near the box, so they will 
enter, and disturb the others gently with a quill or light 
brush. When they commence to enter the box, they 
will set up a loud and continual humming or call, and 
the bees on the sheet if lightly disturbed with the quill 
or brush, will spread out and march toward the hive, 
