26 Bee-keeping for Beginners. 



unbleached calico under the super and over the frames 

 of the brood nest. Gently place the super down 

 again on the calico. The bees in the super are now 

 cut off from the queen, and will want to get back to 

 her. The bee-keeper will then lift the covering from 

 the super and place the cover of the hive again in 

 position. The bees can now only escape one at a 

 time through the cone clearers, which they will soon 

 do, and re-enter the hive at the proper entrance 

 below. Sometimes a few bees will try to enter the 

 hive by the cones, but they never find the right place. 

 The performance thus described can be done in a few 

 minutes, and the bee-keeper can go about his ordinary 

 business all day. In the evening the bee-keeper 

 could go and lift off the cover of the hive and take 

 his super of honey indoors without a bee being in it. 

 For the morning performance a few puffs of smoke 

 or a carbolic rag (to be afterwards described) is quite 

 sufficient to subdue the bees, and make them tame as 

 flies. Fig. 4 shews a complete modern hive, but it is 

 not necessary to have so many parts. Sometimes the 

 parts a, b, and c (tig. 4) are made all in one and do 

 just as well. It is best for a beginner to buy one 

 hive as a pattern, after he has decided on the pattern, 

 and then make all the hives alike, so that the parts 

 may be interchangeable. There is a fixed size for 

 frames, so that, provided the internal dimensions 

 are the same, the outside case is not so important, 

 and need not be the same, though it is preferable 



