FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 77 



In that case brushing may be better than shaking-, but the 

 pounding plan serves very well. A space may be made by 

 shoving the combs apart, and the frames to be pounded held 

 well down in the hive. But many times it is as well to shake 

 the bees on the ground. This may not be so advisable if the 

 queen is likely to be among the shaken bees. Yet I have often 

 shaken the queen off among the bees on the ground, and I am 

 not sure that she ever failed to find her way with the bees back 

 into the hive. When the bees are to be shaken on the ground 

 the pendulum plan is used almost altogether. "With the right 

 hand I take hold of one end of the top-bar, letting the frame 

 hang with the bottom-bar pointing forward, and then swinging 

 the frame backward like a pendulum I let it swing again for- 

 ward, and then as it falls back I kt the lower end of the top- 

 bar strike the ground in such position that a diagonal from 

 the point that strikes the ground to the opposite end of the 

 bottom-bar shall be nearly vertical. It is easier than the 

 other plans, and takes less time. 



BEE-BBUSHES. 



Sometimes it is not desirable to get all the bees off, in 

 which case, or with very light combs, no brushing is needed. 

 But if all the bees are to be cleaned off, and the combs are not 

 very light, then brushing must be resorted to. I know of no 

 brush better than one made of some growing plant, such as 

 asparagus, sweet clover, goldenrod, aster, etc., no little bit of 

 a thing, but a good big bunch, well tied together with a string 

 (Fig. 27). 



But like many a thing that costs nothing, these weed 

 brushes are very expensive, for they dry up so that a fresh one 

 must be made every day, and that takes a good deal of time. 

 So I generally use a Coggshall brush (Fig. 28). The essential 

 thing about a Coggshall brush is that it must be made of long 

 broom-corn with a very thin brush, and not trimmed at all at 

 the ends. One of these is always in the tool-basket. 



Of course no shaking or pounding of combs is admissible 

 if queen-cells are on the combs that are considered of any value. 



