82 THE BLESSED BEES. 



in were filled, until all the hives were full of frames, 

 and every frame was nearly full of brood. In this 

 work of building up the swarms to the strongest 

 point, the empty combs, which I mentioned as 

 having been stored away at the time of transfer- 

 ring, were of great value. Without them it would 

 have been impossible for me to have made the 

 hives so strong, for it is not possible for the bees 

 to make new comb in the early, cool weather. 



The strongest hives were full of brood much 

 sooner than the others ; then they were made to 

 give some frames of brood to weaker ones, so as to 

 bring all up to the highest standard. Before queen- 

 rearing was over nearly every hive was full. When 

 the thirty-eight nuclei were united into ten hives, 

 a few frames were needed to fill them out, which 

 were also taken from the ablest stocks, and their 

 places filled with empty combs. It will be remem- 

 bered that at first I had thirty-six black stocks, and 

 one Italian. Two blacks had been used to raise 

 queen cells, and twelve had been broken up into 

 nuclei to hatch the cells. Now, in uniting all but 

 two of these nuclei, they were put into ten stocks. 

 Hence I now had thirty-five full stocks, and the two 

 nuclei. 



The opening of hives about every other day had 

 kept me well informed as to the honey in them. 

 From willows and soft and silver maples enough 



