868 
PUECHASING STOCKS. 
“ Some are filled with combs ; you don’t cut off such, 
do you ?” 
“ Certainly; I consider all the room for combs in a 
hive over 2000 inches as worse than lost.” 
“ What will you ask to cut mine off? If I could 
see it done once, I might do it next time.” 
“ The charge will be light ; but if you intend to 
keep bees, you should learn to do everything pertain- 
ing to them, and not be dependent on any one ; I did 
it before I ever saw or heard of its being done.” I 
then gave him full directions how to manage, but 
could not persuade him to undertake. 
IIOW LARGE HIVES CAN BE MADE SMALLER. 
A short time after, I attended, on a cold day, with 
a sharp saw, square, &c. I found his hives fourteen 
inches square inside, and eighteen deep, holding about 
3500 inches. Of this square, a little more than ten 
inches in height, would make just the right size. 
To work convenient, I inverted the hive on a barrel, 
set on end, marked the length, and sawed it off, with- 
out a bee leaving. It was very cold, (mercury at 6 
deg.) The bees came to the edges of the combs, but 
the cold drove them back. In a short time I had taken 
off six; four when done were just about full; the 
other two were so when I began, but they were mark- 
ed and sawed like the rest ; when the combs were 
attached, they were severed with a knife, and the 
piece of the hive thus loose, was raised off, leaving 
several inches of the combs projecting out of the hive. 
I now cut off the first comb, even with the bottom of 
