232 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
interchangeable ; thirdly, those with interchangeable 
frames — subsequently giving such information as will 
enable the bee-keeper to judge of suitability of season, 
ripeness of hive for increase, &c. 
In dealing with skeps or box hives, the bees which 
would, in natural swarming, voluntarily leave have to 
be ejected from their house and home by a process 
called “ driving,” which has been, on account of the 
astonishment it is likely to awaken, constantly chosen 
for exhibition purposes in the bee-tent. If we are 
to operate upon a skep, two or three puffs from the 
smoker are driven into its mouth, so as to frighten 
its inhabitants, causing them to leave their floor-board, 
and retreat amongst their combs to fill themselves, 
with honey — they being allowed two or three minutes 
for the operation, during which, if the bees are known 
to be irritable, an occasional rap may be made upon 
the straw. There are two kinds of driving, both of 
which deserve explanation. Having provided a stool 
or table, so as to make our work as convenient as 
may be, we lift the skep, turn it bottom upwards, and 
place its crown in a tub (Fig. 67) or a shallow pail, 
and immediately place over all a second skep having 
the same diameter as the first. A long bandage, or 
jack-towel, is fastened round the edges of the two hives, 
in such a way that not a bee can escape. The lower 
hive — that is — the one containing bees and combs, 
is now beaten with sticks, or with the hands, to jar 
the whole fabric, and terrify the poor little honey- 
gatherers, whose composure has already been upset 
by the noisome cloud which was at the first shed 
amongst them. The beating must be fairly continuous. 
