360 DIRECTIONS FOR DEPRIVATION. 



evening, when it is supposed that all the bees have returned 

 from their labours ; for if performed in the middle of the 

 day, the operator is so dreadfully annoyed by the bees re- 

 turning from the fields, that he is surrounded by hosts of 

 angry insects, and the whole apiary perhaps put into con- 

 fusion. The hive must be gently lifted from the pedestal, 

 and placed with the combs upwards on the ground. The 

 entire surface of it will appear a living mass, and the timid 

 operator dreads the consequences which might ensue to 

 him, were only a thousandth part of the insects to wreak 

 their vengeance upon him. Calling, however, to his assist- 

 ance the fumigating bellows (see page 285), he proceeds 

 to pour upon them a Vesuvian smoke, and, in a moment, 

 the utmost alarm prevails, and the bees hurry to the furthest 

 extremity of the hive in order to protect themselves from 

 such an unexpected nuisance. The absence of the bees 

 will give the operator a full opportunity of examining 

 the state of the combs, and determining on which side 

 to begin the operation. The extraction of the first comb 

 is generally attended with the greatest difficulty ; the second 

 is more easily extracted on account of the space which has 

 been left by the extraction of the first. Should the bees 

 show a disposition to be troublesome, repeat the application 

 of the smoke, and their interference will be checked in a 

 moment. In cutting out the combs, particular care should 

 be paid not to cut into two combs at once, but, if possible, 

 to extract one completely, before a second one be cut into. 

 Here, however, steps in the chief obstacle to a clean and 

 expeditious extraction of the combs, which is the sticks that 

 are almost universally placed in the hive, with the intent 

 of keeping the combs from falling. The extraction of a 

 complete comb becomes under those circumstances a direct 

 impossibility. The combs must be cut into pieces in order 

 to disengage them from the sticks ; the operation becomes 

 unpleasant and disheartening from the hands being covered 



