6o Bee-keeping for Beginners. 



ready to swarm the next year, he turned the hive upside 

 down, and the process was repeated. He had 2800 

 of these boxes. His method of bee-keeping was simple, 

 but he was a wise man, and, by his method, unfinished 

 comb [or an empty space) was always nearest the 

 entrance, and thus swarming was controlled. Go 

 thou and do likewise. The whole principle seems to 

 be to give the bees plenty of room in advance of their 

 requirements. Some people advise the cutting out of 

 queen cells. We do not. It fails sometimes. If the 

 bees do swarm, and you do not want an increase, get 

 the queen from the swarm and destroy it (or make some 

 use of it) and give the bees back to the hive from which 

 they came. Probably they will set to work and not 

 come out again. 



Taking the honey is very pleasant, and not by any 

 means a difficult operation with good modern hives. 

 Suppose you wish to remove a crate of sections. A 

 good time is to go to the hive first thing in the morning. 

 Gently raise the whole crate, after prizing with a screw- 

 driver in various parts. A puff or two of smoke can 

 be given if necessar}'. Then lift up the crate and put 

 a cloth under it, thus separating the bees in the sections 

 from the queen. Then uncover the sections by re- 

 moving the cloth over them, and replace the cover of 

 the hive. The bees will soon go out one at a time by 

 the bee-escape in the roof, and not be able to return 

 to the sections. In the evening the bee-keeper could 

 go to the hive, take off the roof, and remove the crate 



