214 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
are will be incapable of nursing the brood. The con- 
tinuance of breeding must therefore be ensured, at 
any rate, until October, and if its cessation is found 
to be occasioned by the filling of all the cells with 
honey, additional room must promptly be provided ; 
whilst, if it is owing to a deficiency of stores, occa- 
sioning the provident queen to fear that there will be 
no sustenance for her brood, stimulating feeding 
must at once be had recourse to. For the 
substance of these remarks we are again indebted 
to the above-mentioned paper of My. Cowan. 
Autumnal Unions, ruming, and Transferring Bees.*— 
The system of autumnal unions of bee stocks is 
one of the most important matters in modern bee- 
keeping, though it did not at first receive the at- 
tention it demanded, in part, perhaps, from the 
supposed doubt about maintaining the bees, when 
collected in a large body, through the winter. This 
difficulty, however, is removed by a reference to what 
was said on the subject of winter store in the last 
section. I hope I shall be able to show that, by < 
safe and simple expedient, the bees of two or three 
weak or worn-out families may be joined together to 
form one vigorous stock. The process should be 
undertaken about September, and in warm weather. 
The custom of stupefying bees by some narcotic 
substance has long been in practice. By means of 
subjection to the fumes, the bees are rendered insen- 
*It may be well in this place to call attention to the distinction 
between the system of transferring bees in autumn, in the way now 
pointed out, and that of transferring bees anid combs together from 
one hive to another. Directions for the latter process are given under 
“Spring Management.’ 
