178 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



20s. ; therefore, by melting down one pound of clean 

 Worker combs, the Bee-master loses i?s. 6d. ! Why 

 should not this lesson be borne in mind ? 



A novice will find considerable difficulty in transfer- 

 ring the combs of a hive that are full of brood, as the 

 young larvae are extremely delicate and susceptible to 

 cold, and, therefore, it is by far the easiest plan to allow 

 the stock to swarm either naturally or artificially, and the 

 brood to hatch out, which will all be accomplished to the 

 last egg in twenty-one days after swarming, excepting, 

 perhaps, a few drones ; at this time (a day or two, more 

 or less, will not matter) the combs will be empty and 

 light and much easier to handle. Now let a/l the Bees 

 be driven from their old home into an empty skep, which 

 place on the old spot ; then carry the denuded hive into 

 a room or other place inaccessible to the Bees. An old 

 skep is seldom of much value, and in this case with a 

 strong knife cut it right in half between the two centre 

 combs. The object we have in view is to fill the frames 

 of the new hive as far as we can with the combs from 

 the skep, and in the absence of apparatus, which I will 

 presently describe, lay the first frame down flat on a 

 clean table, and having cut out one of the centre combs, 

 if it be larger than the frame (as is usually the case 

 with centre combs), merely cut the lower side straight, 

 and reduce the height of the comb so as to fit the frame 

 by cutting off as much of the honey-cells at the top as 

 may be requisite, and the same at the two ends, so that 

 the comb shall fill the frame completely, and consist of 

 all or nearly all Worker cells. If there be any portions 

 of the fitted comb prominently thicker than the centre 

 part, slice it off with the knife, endeavouring to arrange 

 so that the foundations of the cells shall be equi-distant 

 from both sides. If the comb was sufficiently large, it 



