196 ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



safely to remove a frame, without making room for it in the 

 way just described. In handling the frames, be careful not 

 to incline them from their perpendicular, or the combs will 

 be liable to break and fall out from their own weight. 



If the combs are all to be examined, proceed as follows : 

 After lifting out the outside frame, set it carefully on end, 

 near the hive. The second comb may now be easily 

 moved towards the vacant space, and lifted out. After ex- 

 amination, put it in the place of the comb just removed. 

 In the same way examine the third comb, and put it in place 

 of the second one, and so proceed until all have been 

 examined. If the bees are to be removed, they must of 

 course be shaken off on a sheet, as previously described. 

 If the comb first taken out will fit, it may be put in the 

 vacant space now remaining ; if it will not fit, the combs 

 must be slid on the rabbets into their former places, begin- 

 ning with the last one examined, and the comb taken out 

 may then be returned to its old position. 



The inexperienced operator, on examining a hive, and 

 seeing that some small pieces of comb have been made 

 between the outside of the frames and the sides of the hive, 

 or that the upper part of the combs are fastened slightly 

 together, will often imagine that the frapes cannot be 

 removed at all. Such slight attachments, however, offer no 

 practical difficulty to their removal. The great point to be 

 gained is to secure a single comb on each frame. This I 

 have effected after many experiments, and the device may 

 be applied to any hive, so that the expense of a few cents 

 will always secure straight combs. This invention alone 

 will, I am confident, be worth the cost of my patent to any 

 one who keeps a few stocks of bees. 



If bees were disposed to fly away at once from their 

 combs, as soon as they were taken out, it would be very 



