36 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 
is well to have a shallow tray or basket in which -to carry these 
tools, some fuel, a couple of cans,‘one for propolis and the other 
for bits of wax, pencil and record cards, queen introducing cages, 
etc., at hand. 
Passing to the windward side of a hive, with the smoker going 
well, the cover may-be removed and stood down against the adjoin- 
ing hive. Then pealing up one corner of the quilt, drive in just 
enough smoke to start the bees down. One should always be careful 
about placing anything, or standing, in front of the hive, as this 
ebstructs the way and confuses the incoming bees and also prevents 
any bees that fly from the top from getting in again. For this same 
reason the practice of first blowing smoke in the entrance is not to 
be advised, though sometimes it becomes necessary. The smoker 
can be stood down to windward so that as the smoke rises it will be 
carried across the top of the hive keeping the bees down. Smoke 
is used to alarm the bees and set them feeding on honey. When 
filled with honey they become noticeably docile and can be handled 
with much greater ease and comfort. 
Usually there will be more or less propolis on the top of -the 
frames which may now be removed while the bees are filling them- 
selves. Also there are quite likely to be brace combs built between 
the frames if the bees are gathering honey freely, and these may be 
cut out. In loosening the frames care should be taken not to jar 
the hive any more than necessary. In removing the first frame one 
must work slowly and with care lest bees be crushed and the an- 
ger of the colony aroused. In the eight frame hives there is room 
for what is known as a division board, the use of which is to give 
rvom to manipulate the frames upon its removal. In a good many 
instances, unless the bees are worked with quite frequently, the 
division board becomes so fastened that it is harder to remove than 
cne of the frames. In the larger sized hives provision is not made 
for it. 
One of the disadvantages of the self-spacing frames is that no 
working space can be had by shoving the frames together. One 
frame, having been removed and stood on end at one side of the 
‘hive, the others may be manipulated with ease. 
There are four positions found to be of practical value when 
ence learned, to facilitate the handling of frames of bees and honey. 
The first position is that in which the frame is in the hands when 
