78 BEE CULTURE. 
for which a part of the comb had been cut away, next to the 
end bar; this, of course, was neck downward, corked and 
some lampwick communicating with the water. The frames 
rested in a notched strip on bottom board, the width of the 
hive (not nailed), and two, notched strips secured them on 
top, the cover going down on these, held all firmly. The 
entrances were covered with wire cloth, and directions for 
giving water on the sponge were pasted on each hive. 
Upon arrival it was found that about a gill of water had 
been used from each bottle. There was no sealed brood in 
the hives, but both queens had commenced to lay, as there 
were hatched larve in some of the cells. 
UNITING COLONIES IN EARLY SPRING. 
Remove the queen from one colony, and put the frames 
with bees and brood at one side, putting in a divider made by 
tacking wire-cloth on one side of a brood frame, with the 
ends extending to reach full length of the hive ; now bring 
the brood, queen and bees from the other hive and place in 
this one ; close the entrance on the bees and queen put in 
for twenty four hours, slant a board in front, remove the hive 
vacated, and the work is done. In twenty-four hours, or the 
next night, remove the obstruction from the entrance, leaving 
the slanting board in front, which will cause the bees to mark 
their home anew. On the third day remove the dividing- 
frame and the board from the front. No hive should occupy 
the old stand, from which the queen and bees were removed, 
for several days. 
HOW TO SEPARATE SWARMS. 
The fsliowing is a very successful plan of accomplishing 
this task. Messrs. Bray & Seacord, of California, say that it 
works like a charm every time: ‘Make a box three feet 
long, wide and deep enough to hang the frames in, from the 
hive you use ; place the frames in the box, same spaces apart 
as they are in the movable comb hive; make one entrance for 
the bees on the side of the box, twice the length and of the 
same height as the entrance to the hive. Make three or four 
division boards to fit the box, then make a cover with cleats 
on both sides (no end cleats) to fit the box; hive the swarms 
