HINTS ON WORKING THE BEES _ 65 
flying about. The need for this precautionary 
care is that the bees soon lose their bearings 
if their hive is shifted to any great extent and 
will fly about until death ensues from ex. 
haustion ; while to enter a strange hive in mis- 
take for their own is equally fatal for them. 
The actual process of uniting is accomplished 
by taking combs alternately from each hive 
and placing them in their new quarters, mean- 
while spraying bees and combs with scented 
syrup, or dredging them with flour. 
I should, however, recommend the novice 
to ‘‘ shake’? or ‘‘ drive’’ (see pp. 74, 79) each stock 
before uniting them, for hunger will do more 
to reconcile the bees to each other than any- 
thing else. The driven bees should be passed 
through a queen-excluder and the oldest queen, 
or queens, destroyed. ‘This will save a battle 
royal in the new hive, and do much towards 
uniting the two sections of bees. 
Queen-rearing hives may have frames of 
young bees added to them without much fear of 
trouble, for as a rule young bees do not fight. 
Stimulating.—Bee-keepers who are working 
for honey generally stimulate the bees after the 
semi-hibernation days of winter are passed, for 
a period of some six or eight weeks before their 
services are likely to be required for honey 
F 
