HOW TO GET THE BEES 73 



When bees are bought in old box hives 

 or in log "gums" the same process of 

 transferring the combs to the frames of 

 the modern hive must be gone through 

 with. I remember the first time I ever 

 saw this work done. I had bought my first 

 bees from an old-fashioned farmer, pay- 

 ing him, I think, two dollars a colony for 

 them. Most of them were in sections of 

 poplar logs about thirty inches high and 

 fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter. 

 I had no idea how to get the little work- 

 ers transferred to the new hives I had 

 bought, but a beekeeping friend initiated 

 me in the process. He first puffed a good 

 deal of smoke under the lower end of the 

 log and then asked for an ax. About that 

 time I began to think that I would much 

 prefer to keep chickens or Belgian hares 

 or pigeons or some other gentle beasts. 

 The idea of opening a hive of bees with 

 an ax seemed to me like flying in the face 

 of Providence, but that is exactly what 

 George Demuth did on that occasion. 



