BEE-KEEPING IN WAR-TIME 19 



At the end of the season the supers are removed, cleaned 

 down, and stored away. The most profitable system of 

 working bees is for extracted honey, for this reason : to make 

 one pound of wax the bees consume from ten to twenty pounds 

 of honey, therefore when a section is sold one of the most 

 valuable assets (wax) goes with it. Shallow combs are never 

 destroyed, but are used year after year ; they are never used 

 for breeding purposes, therefore are always perfectly clean. 

 For every pound of wax preserved for use as combs in this 

 way, the consumption of a large amount of food and much 

 valuable time is saved to the bees. 



Immediately after the honey harvest has been gathered 

 preparation for the winter should be commenced. This in 

 most districts will be about the middle of August. It is no 

 use attempting to winter weak stocks. If there are such they 

 •Should be united. This is accomplished as follows : Move the 

 hives containing the weak lots not more than one yard per 

 day when the bees are flying until they stand in pairs side by 

 side. If moved more than this distance the bees will not 

 find their way into the hive ; as already pointed out, they 

 locate position and not the hive, so a great many will be 

 lost. When they reach their final position, let them stand 

 side by side and work for several days so that they get well 

 used to the new location. On a fine warm evening, about 

 six o'clock (normal time), remove all the combs from each 

 stock that are not covered by bees, kill the worst queen, 

 space the combs in one hive equal distances apart, having 

 previously dusted the bees well with ordinary wheaten or 

 pea flour. Now take the combs from the other hive one by 

 one, dust the bees on each with flour and interspace them 

 between the spaced combs in the other hive. Remove the 

 empty hive, move the one containing the bees so that it 

 stands in the centre of the space which was occupied by the 

 two hives, wrap down warmly. The two lots of bees will have 

 one common home and so winter successfully. Bees recognise 

 each other by smeU, hence the use of flour to give them all 

 the same odour ; if they are put together without this pre- 

 caution they .will fight and many bees will be killed, possibly 

 amongst the number the most valuable one, i.e. the queen. 

 Plenty of flour should be used in the operation ; this is not 

 wasted, the bees clean themselves from it, store it in the 

 cells and use it for food in the same way that they collect 

 and use pollen from the flowers. 



