6S THE BLESSED BEES. 



8 o'clock I blew some smoke in at the entrance of a 

 hive. After waiting a few minutes a second hive 

 was smoked, that these bees might be filling them- 

 selves while the first was being examined. Bees, if 

 alarmed by smoke or in any other way, at once fill 

 themselves with honey, and when thus full of honey 

 they are very quiet, having little disposition to 

 sting. Then seating ourselves on low stools at the 

 side of the hive, so that my left-hand was next the 

 hive, the lid was taken off. I lifted the first frame 

 with my left hand, rested the bottom of it on the 

 edge of the hive, and glanced quickly over the side 

 of the comb towards me. My right-hand was free, 

 and held a keen knife with which I rapidly beheaded 

 every capped drone-cell. Will did the beheading 

 on the other side. On some combs we found a few 

 drone-cells, but most of them had none at all. In 

 nine minutes from the time we sat down, every 

 frame in the first hive had been examined, drones 

 beheaded, frames replaced, and hive shut. Then, 

 first blowing smoke into the third, we opened the 

 second. So we kept on, and in little more than six 

 hours and a half we had gone over all the hives, 

 averaging about 1 1 minutes to a hive. As we ex. 

 amined those hives containing the inserted frames 

 of Italian drone eggs and brood, I noticed that they 

 were all in good condition. 



There was no danger of any black drones appear- 



