150 BEE CULTURE. 
surplus honey yield. In order to be better understood, we 
will suppose the apiarist has four good colonies which he 
wishes to increase to nineteen. As a progressive bee-keeper, 
he will be actuated by a desire to possess the best ; therefore, 
the colony which has heretofore proven the most satisfactory 
in all things, will be selected as the one from which to rear 
queens for new colonies. This colony, for convenience in 
summarizing, we will designate No. 1. As soon as spring 
opens, feed No. 1 daily about half a pint of thin sugar syrup 
or honey, diluted with warm water. This had better be fed 
at the entrance in the evening, to avoid robbing, and be given 
slightly warmed. Keep this up till there is capped drone 
brood in some of the combs, or, better still, till you have 
drones emerging from the cells. Now move one of the other 
colonies from its stand (which we will designate No 2); place 
No. 2 on a new stand, put a new or empty hive on the stand 
vacated ; lift the frame from No. 1 on which you find the 
queen and place in the empty hive (No. 3); place a frame of - 
foundation in No. 1 and close the hive. From No. 2, andeach 
of the two hives not numbered lift two frames of brood well 
advanced, shake off the old bees, and put the combs in No. 3, 
with the queen lately placed there. These last frames put 
in should be alternated as much as possible, so as to confuse 
the working bees from No. 2, which will naturally return to 
the old stand and enter No. 3. Fill up the latter hive with 
frames of foundation, alternated with the brood combs, to its 
full complement. If a ten-frame hive, this will give it seven 
frames of brood, three frames of foundation, and your best 
queen. Ifyou have bright, clean, empty combs, they will 
answer about as well as foundation, though we prefer the 
best foundation. Put in foundation or combs to supply the 
places of those taken from the other hives, close them, and 
your first division is completed, making six colonies. In ten 
days, examine carefully the combs in No. 1, to see how many 
good queen cells (fig. 68) you have capped over. Close the 
hive carefully, and let it remain twenty-four to thirty-six 
hours. As soon as you have determined the number of cells, 
remove each of the four colonies, which have queens, to new 
stands, and place empty hives where they stood. Take the 
brood frame from each on which you will find the quecn, and 
place in the empty hive where they were moved from, Add 
