106 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
with all the fickle tantrums of a virgin queen in a 
swarm? More than that, the old queen may still 
swarm when she has filled her new hive ; and it is 
a question whether colonies so divided work with 
the vim of a newly-hived natural swarm. 
Apart from securing increase, I believe that the 
beekeeper whose whole business is in his apiary, 
or who can provide a watcher competent to hive 
the swarms, is best paid by allowing the bees to 
follow their own way. 
If a beekeeper, however, must leave home, and 
he has no one who is able to look out for the 
swarm that may be expected from, say a single 
hive, then he should divide by all means. First, 
find the old queen. This is a matter of some real 
difficulty, especially when the bees are black, or 
hybrids, and the operator is not accustomed to the 
search. The great secret is to open the hive as 
quietly as possible, with the least possible smoke, 
so as on no account to set the bees running, or to 
frighten the queen herself. 
Now. with the queen safe on the comb on 
which she has been found, in another hive or box, 
covered with a piece of mosquito net, in case she 
might fly, remove the old hive to the stand it is to 
occupy. If that is near its old stand, as it usually 
will be, turn the entrance to one side at an angle 
of 45deg. for a day or two, or some of the flying 
bees may return to it. Next prepare the new 
home for the queen on the old stand. It should 
be a hive as like the old one as possible ; especially 
in colour. 
When it is in position, and the flying bees now 
returning to it in numbers (as you have chosen a 
day when the bees are busy gathering), place the 
comb with the queen on it in the centre. If the 
old hive is very crowded, take another well- 
capped brood frame from it and place it alongside 
the one already in the new hive. Fill up the 
latter with frames of foundation or empty comb. 
Foundation is best, because the bees will not have 
empty comb in the brood nest to till with honey, 
and the queen will occupy the cells as they are 
pulled out. If you have neither, put in three 
more combs with starters, one between the two 
brood combs, and fill up with wooden dummies 
instead of more frames. This is to prevent the 
bees filling the frames with drone comb, which 
would be the case with three or four of them if the 
new hive were made up with starters only. In less 
than a week, probably, the three new frames will 
be filled with straight worker comb and eggs in 
nearly every cell. Then put two more frames 
with starters in the middle of the brood-nest ; but, 
as before, with a brood comb between them. 
When the frames, or frames and dummies, are 
arranged in the new hive with the queen, take a 
new super of extracted frames, or of sections, and 
place it on the new hive. If you have contracted 
the brood nest with dummies or filled up with 
frames of foundation only, and you wish to put on 
a super of extracted frames, first put a queen- 
excluding honey board of some sort between 
them, or the queen will lay in the super at once, 
and you will have the super with frames mostly 
honey and a little brood, and frames below 
deserted. With sections there is not so much 
danger, especially if separators are used. With 
the empty super in position, place the super that 
was on the old hive, or, if you had two on the old 
hive, the better filled, on the top of the empty 
one on the new hive, with all the bees it contains. 
Now shut up the new hive ; but we are not quite 
done with it. It will be better with some of the 
young bees from the old hive, so shake the bees off 
two or three of the brood frames on its alighting- 
board, and return the frames to the old hive. 
The division is now completed, and we return 
to the old hive. Draw the remaining frames in 
the brood nest to the centre, and you find a frame 
wanting on each side. These you may replace 
with frames of empty comb, frames of foundation, 
or dummies. There is no use putting in frames 
with starters only, for the bees will only fill them 
with drone comb ; unless you wish to have two 
frames of honey to be cut out for home use in the 
winter. If so, put a frame with starter only on 
each side of the brood nest, and you will have two 
frames full of real, ripe, delicious honey by then, 
though the comb may be a little darkened by the 
bees' feet. Put a new super, or the less filled of 
the two you had before, on top, and close the 
hive. 
Now for the young queen. If you have found, 
in looking for the old one, that the bees are well 
on with queen cells, in preparation to swarm, you 
are in luck. You have combined the benefits of 
dividing with the advantages of a natural swarm. 
The queens that hatch will have been reared from 
the egg. But should you not have been so fortu- 
nate, go to the old hive on the eighth or ninth 
day after dividing, not later, and look over the 
brood frames. You will find queen cells, most 
capped, some uncapped ; attend to the capped 
ones. Bees always cover the queen cells they set 
most store by with a rough coating of wax and 
propolis. This coating is rough because pitted 
with little hexagonal hollows, like miniature comb, 
and the more the workers think of the young 
queen in the cell the larger the cell is the rougher 
they coat it. Therefore choose two or three of the 
very largest and roughest, and ruthlessly destroy 
every other queen cell. To do this it is only 
necessary to tear them with the point of a pen- 
knife or a bit of stick. In a week or ten days 
after this the young queen will have probably 
mated and begun to lay. 
THE DELUGE OF SHAM HONEY. 
It is no wonder that storekeepers can be per- 
suaded to undertake the sale of “American” 
glucose, which really has been made up by colonial 
adventurers in such neat and attractive packages 
and labelled as pure garden honey,” with a piece 
of real honeycomb inserted in the glass jar to make 
people believe that the syrup within was gathered 
from the choicest flowers of the garden by the honey 
bee. The syrup is clear and bright in appearance, 
the glass jar can be placed upon the table, and the 
label is quite a pleasant picture to look at. The 
price of the imitation is low enough to leave a 
margin of profit for the grocer, and for a time fche 
purchasers continue to take the stuff off his hands 
