CONTROLLED INCREASE. 
28 
where the slates overlapped the gutter, so that 
their entrance was above ; and here their combs had 
undoubtedly been commenced, and then run back to 
the distance of 3ft. or 4ft., by which the defenders 
were, from the first, close to the base of their opera- 
tions. This instinct constantly manifests itself, and 
every observant owner of frame hives must know that 
at all active seasons bees keep up a loose string of 
defenders from the entrance to the main body. 
At B we have an ordinary hive arranged according 
to Mr. Simmins’ plan, the brood-nest {dn), just before 
the honey-flow commences, or before drone-cells are 
capped, being limited to eight or nine frames ; and 
these are kept at the back, while, next the entrance, 
frames carrying Jin. starters or guides (g) only are 
placed. Here, as before, we have an opening next 
the entrance, and a possibility on the part of the bees 
of extending the brood-nest, and so an entire absence 
of a desire to swarm. But resemblance here ceases. 
By referring to the skep, we find that the new comb 
{nc) will be first extended next the mouth, and when 
this is completed to within a bee space of the floor, 
swarming may occur, notwithstanding the unoccupied 
space {sp) behind. In B, in extending the brood- 
nest, the frame next it — i.e., the one farthest from 
the entrance — must be first built out, and then 
the next will follow ; while the combs must be con- 
structed from the roof downwards, so that the entrance 
is the very last point reached ; and this gives the bee- 
keeper time to appear upon the scene, and utilise the 
constructed combs for his sections, as hereafter ex- 
plained. In the skep, as the cells are multiplied the 
