250 AUSTRALASIAN 



found to answer so well that many have adopted the plan 

 since. The contrivance for placing on top of the frames to 

 raise the mats or chaff cushion, shown in the engraving below, 

 and which has been named after Mr. Hill, is made of small 

 pieces of wood sawn or bent to form part of a circle of about 

 11 inches in diameter; the two centre pieces are 9 inches in 

 length, and the two outside ones 8 inches. A thin piece of 

 hoop iron 1 2 inches long is tacked on the back of the pieces to 



Fig. 116.— HILL'S DEVICE. 



keep them in position. I have tried them on small colonies 

 and find them to answer very well indeed. The bees cluster 

 on frosty nights right up in the space thus formed. Care must be 

 taken that the side frames are well covered with mats. 



UNITING WEAK AND QUEENLESS COLONIES. 



The advisableness of keeping none but strong colonies, and 

 of uniting together two or more of any found to be below a 

 certain standard of strength, has been more than once pointed 

 out in previous chapters ; but to impress it upon the mind of 

 the reader I would here remark that special attention should 

 be paid to the matter of uniting weak colonies in the early 

 spring months and when preparing the hives for winter (see 

 pages 232 and 246). Colonies that become queenless at a time 

 when no queens are available should also be united as soon as 

 discovered to others possessing queens. Queenless colonies 

 are frequently to be found at the latter part of winter and in 

 early spring. 



When the hives containing the colonies to be united are 

 located some distance apart, move one a few feet every day 

 till it is alongside the other. The queen may now be removed 

 from one of the colonies, and in the evening place the frames 

 on which the bees that still have a queen are clustered, to one 



