§xv.] REMOVING FRAMES. 273-; 



the avarice of bees by exposing honey, either in the 

 comb or liquid, and also to be very tardy of opening 

 frame hives in the spring or autumn. If needful to do 

 so, soon after sunrise is the safest, because there will be 

 few bees about, and the hive shouH be taken, if con- 

 venient, to a quiet corner of the garden, many yards away 

 from the other hives, and what is requisite done speedily, 

 so as not to expose the honey to the scent of a host of 

 robbers, who will most unceremoniously pillage and cause 

 a terrible commotion. 



When replacing frames in the hive, care must be taken 

 not to crush a bee, and on no account must the frame^ 

 be let down with a jerk, or the insects will become ex- 

 ceedingly fierce ; it should be so slowly deposited in its- 

 place that a bee on feeling the slightest pressure may 

 be able to escape unhurt. The crown-board should be 

 replaced by first resting its front edge along the back, 

 and then sliding it forward, so that any bee upon it is 

 pushed away instead of being crushed. Should the hive 

 have its super on, the same directions may be followed. 

 The super with its honey-board may be bodily taken 

 away, and so placed and confined for a time that robber 

 bees cannot find an entrance, and also be far enough 

 from the apiarian to be out of danger of being broken or 

 overturned by him. 



It will be sometimes found, in cases in which the bees 

 have not had sufficient storage-room, that they have 

 carried their building operations outside and above the 



