28 
A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
At one time I thought if such a comb were placed in the 
middle of the brood-nest, they would clean it up and not 
empty it, but their instinct seems to compel them to empty 
entirely every cell that is not in proper order. At onetime 
I took the cappings carefully off a part of a finished section, 
the capping being dark, and put the section back in the 
super, thinking the bees would immediately cap it afresh 
with lighter material. Those bees emptied every last drop 
of honey out of the uncapped cells, and it was some time 
before they filled and capped them. Of course they may 
sometimes do the opposite of this. Stimulation between 
fruit-bloom and white clover is hardly necessary, here. 
Any overhauling subsequent to the first, is an easy matter. 
As a broodless frame was left at the south side at the first 
overhauling, and the brood-nest commenced with the next 
frame, I can count that the bees will continue this arrange- 
ment, nineteen times out of twenty, if not ninety-nine times 
out of a hundred. In fact this is just the order that the bees 
will almost invariably establish of their own accord, the 
brood-nest commencing in the second frame from the south, 
and the south frame remaining without brood, but sure to 
contain a large quantity of bee-bread. So in any examina- 
tion after the first, I commence at the north side and when I 
come to the first frame of brood, I need go no further, for I 
know that the brood-nest will occupy all the rest of the 
combs except the outside one at the south. If they have not 
plenty of feed, of course it can be given, although it may not 
often be necessary to give stores the second time, for in this 
locality they can get good supplies from fruit-bloom. 
I suppose they can forage upon 10,000 fruit-trees without 
going more than a quarter of a mile. If, however, the first 
frame of brood I come to, contains only sealed brood, I must 
look further to see whether they have eggs or very young 
brood, for it is possible they may have become queenless. If 
eggs are plentiful, but no unsealed brood, I know that they 
have a young queen which has commenced laying, and I must 
find her and clip her wing. 
