OF MANAGING BEES. 15 



end. The under side of the chamber floor should be planed 

 smooth, then scratched with a sharp scratch, so as to raise 

 little ridges, to enable the bees to hold fast, otherwise they 

 may fall suddenly upon the bottom board, which may induce 

 them to leave the hive and flee to the woods. That the in- 

 side of the hive should be made smooth is evident, from the 

 fact that comb adheres much more firmly to a smooth board 

 than it does to the small fibres or splinters which are left 

 by the saw, and the comb is less likely to drop. 



Some good managers of bees have recommended rubbing 

 the inside of the sides of the hive with bees-wax, to enable 

 the bees to hold fast until they had secured the comb at the 

 top of the hive, where they always commence their laibors. 

 The old custom of washing the hives with salt and water, 

 sweet herbs, and other substances, to give them a pleasant 

 effluvia, should be abolished. Washing the hive swells the 

 timber, and loosens the wax, more or less, where it is at- 

 tached to the wood, and causes a greater eifort on the part 

 of the bees to commence their superstructure for new comb. 



When bees die, the hive should be cleared of its contents, 

 and scraped out, and the chamber rubbed with a cloth wet 

 in clear water, then set in its place in the apiary, and there 

 stand until wanted for use. An old hive, thus prepared, is 

 better than a new one for the reception of a swarm of bees. 

 The task, which is arduous and difficult, of attaching the comb 

 to the new wood, in this case has been accomplished by the 

 previous swarm. 



Note. — It is found by experiment that the comb in all 

 hives, under two years old, that are robbed, die of starva^ 

 tion, or otherwise, may be preserved for a new swarm, which 

 forwards the labors of a new colony nearly half, if the comb 

 remains in a good state of preservation. The apiarian, 

 however, should be very minute in the examination of the 



