110 



THE APIAEY. 



should be set far enough apart, at first, to allow room for 

 other hives between them. Whenever a colony is suf- 

 ficiently strong to divide, one half the combs may be put 

 into the new hive, as in making artificial swarms. In a 

 week, cut out cells, and introduce the laying queen. It 

 will be important to keep a few queens on hand, in case 

 any should unexpectedly swarm; or^^-ather you should 

 expect some to do so, a little before you are ready to di- 

 vide. The advantages of having laying queens always 

 ready, amply repays all trouble in rearing. I would sug- 

 gest that the movable comb hives only, are used for this 

 kind of bee-house, as it is evident that the box hive can 





Fig. 15. — BEB HOUSE. 



not be so easOy managed. "When such a hive swarms, we 

 often can not remove all the queen cells ; the bees would 

 be obliged to raise their own queens, and would be likely 

 to swarm several times. Also, the queen left in the old 

 hive, and those with the after swarms, would be likely to 

 be lost. 



