OF MANAGING BEES. 11 



All hives of bees that swarm are liable to swarm too 

 much, and reduce their colonies so low in numbers as to 

 materially injure them, which is frequently the cause of their 

 destruction by the moth, and is more particularly explained 

 m Chapters II. and X. 



The chamber of the hive should hold about one-third as 

 much as the lower apaitment, and be made perfectly tight, 

 so as to exclude all light from the windows of the drawers ; 

 and also to protect them from the chilly night air : other- 

 wise, the cold air of night so alters the condition of the ani- 

 mal heat in the drawer, that the bees are compelled to lie 

 in idleness until an equilibrium can be formed in the box 

 the following day. Bees make comb in the night, and fill 

 up the cells with honey in the daytime. Comb is made of 

 honey, ruminated in the stomach of the worlving bee: it 

 exudes from the interior of its abdomen, and forms in little 

 flakes between its folds, and is taken by the bees in their 

 mouths from thence, and welded on to enlarge the cells and 

 fill up their tenement with comb. Now, as it requires an 

 exact uniformity of heat, in all cases, to make comb and en- 

 large the cells of a colony, we are able to account for the 

 fact that bees will store much more honey in drawers than 

 in caps, which are more exposed to the cold and damp air of 

 night. 



Drawers should be small, like Nos. 2, 4, and 8, tor all pur- 

 poses, except such as are used for multiplying colonies and 

 transferring swarms, which should always be large, like No. 

 1. No 1 drawer fills the chamber of the hive, is 14 inches 

 long, 12^ inches wide, and 5^ inches high on its outside 

 when finished, and should be made to play half inch above 

 and sidewise in the chamber, to facilitate its removal when 

 swollen by the damp vapor of the bees, No. 2 drawers are 

 most profitable for common use, apd are half the size of No. 1. 



