AETIFU!IAi;i,SWAKMS. 193 



My hives happened to be of the right size — when made 

 without reference to this process. They should be twelve 

 inches wide, admitting frames 11x18 ; box about six inches 

 by five deep. The boxes should be wedged firmly in the 

 frame. These, with the frame, will, when properly ad- 

 justed, fill one-half the hive, and the four frames with 

 com.bs, the other half. The open side of the box allows 

 the bees to work with the same facility as in making addi- 

 tional combs in the hive. There is no danger of tiriding 

 brood in them ; and the labor expended is in a profitable 

 direction. 



BOXES TEANSPEKRED AND EINISHED ON ANOTHER HIVE. 



When the young queen is mature, and commences lay- 

 ing, they should be removed. If not full, and the colony 

 is strong, put them on thfe top, and the bees will remain and 

 finish them. But if the colony is weak, they will leave to 

 work below, when they should be transferred to some 

 other hive to be finished. 



TDVEB FOR QUEEN TO LAY EGGS. 



The young queen will make her appearance on the 

 twelfth day from the time the division is made ; in eight 

 days more she will commence laying. This is the rule, 

 but exceptions are frequent. If you wish to use the sur- 

 plus queen-cells that will probably be made, for other divi- 

 sions, or any purpose, they should be taken out by the 

 tenth day. The queen first hatched sometimes destroys 

 them all by that time. When all goes well, the queen 

 should be laying in three weeks. Eggs.in the cells at that 

 time indicate her presence. When a queen-cell can be 

 given to the half,, destitute of a queen, the young queen is 

 ready to lay several days earlier. When a laying queen 

 can be introduced, there is an average gain of from ten to 

 fourteen days. 

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