and its Economic Management. 129 



Spare Combs 



for extracting may be obtained early in the season by inducing 

 the bees to build out foundation (wired or otherwise), inserted 

 in the brood nest ; or later above it. The combs will be 

 tougher, and a larger population will be obtained if such new 

 combs remain in the hive for breeding purposes, while the 

 outside older combs can be removed for storage. 



With plenty of store combs and the " safety valve " below, 

 the bees cannot well be idle if there is anything to be gathered. 

 A common practice is to lift the upper storey and place another 

 under, but where excluder zinc is used the brood nest is always 

 retained at the bottom. 



When removing completed sets, let it be done during the 

 busy hours of the day, when what few bees are in will soon 

 leave if piled up in a room with large windows arranged as 

 explained under Bee-houses. Another way is to shake the 

 bees from the combs, using a feather for the stragglers ; and.- 

 still another, with shallow frames when fixed securely, is that 

 first adapted to modern hives by James Heddon, of Dowagiac, 

 Mich., who had not the slightest knowledge that his " shaking 

 out " process had been long practised in this country with 

 fixed combs, where we call it " throwing." 



Empty sets of combs must be in readiness to give the bees 

 where more room may be required, and when full combs have 

 been emptied, they should always be returned in the evening 

 that all may be cleared up, and the consequent excitement 

 subsided before another day's work commences. 



Bee-Traps 



have been revived both at home and in America, under the 

 name of bee-escapes and super clearers. Some fifteen years 

 since these were much in vogue, but fell into disuse, as practical 

 bee-keepers found they preferred, when once having raised the 

 super, to clear it away at once, and it is not a little surprising 



K 



