HINTS ON WORKING THE BEES 61 
possible so that the combs may not be unduly 
exposed. 
Spring and Autumn Cleaning.—In the 
springtime—generally speaking about the 
middle of April—it is necessary that the hive 
should be cleaned, and, to’secure ‘‘a thorough 
spring clean,’’ the bees should be transferred to 
another hive that has been already cleaned. If 
this is not done, the hive must be thoroughly 
overhauled, and should any of the combs be 
found to be in a bad condition and without any 
bees on them they should be removed. If the 
combs are full of brood and honey it is 
necessary to expand the brood chamber as 
described on page 67. In the autumn the hive 
must be examined and cleaned again. All 
empty combs, or those not used by the bees, 
should be removed and the space thus rendered 
vacant closed bya dummy. Should the hive 
contain only a small quantity of food the bees 
will have to be fed artificially. (See page 82.) 
Weak Hives.—It is at the spring and 
autumn examinations that the real state of the 
hive community is discovered, and in the former 
the ‘‘ weak”’ hive is a common occurrence. It 
is then that much depends upon the bee-keeper 
whether his work is to be successful or not. It 
is then that weak stocks must be brought up 
