54 THE BLESSED BEES. 



When my ten frames, including the five contain- 

 ing brood, were ready they were carried out to the 

 bees in their new hive. When I opened this hive, 

 and began to hang in the frames of comb and brood 

 the bees eagerly clustered upon them. I found 

 that in an hour and twenty minutes from the time 

 of beginning the first hive the transfer was nicely 

 finished up. Another hive was finished before 

 dinner. As my new hives had lids and were not 

 the same shape as the old ones, it was not conven- 

 ient to place them on the old ones to drum the 

 bees into them. So I took the old hive from which 

 I had first transferred, cut it down to ten inches 

 high, nailed the pieces again, and used this for a 

 drumming-box. It was set on the old hive, the bees 

 drummed into it, then it was set on the stand while 

 I was transferring the combs. The combs were 

 then properly arranged in a new hive, a piece of 

 duck just the size of the hive nicely spread over 

 the frames, the new hive was taken out, the drum- 

 ming-box removed from the stand and the hive set 

 on. A sheet was then spread in front of the hive 

 and the bees shaken from the drumming-box upon 

 the sheet. The scent of the comb at once attracted 

 them to the hive, aud they crawled rapidly in. 



By four o'clock that day I had transferred five 

 swarms. It was a very good day's work for a begin- 

 ner. Hard work it was, too, and night found me very 



