24 
BEK- CULTURE. 
ter well sweetened and strongly scented with peppermint or 
other essence, which will so. obliterate, for the time being, the 
natural odor that neither will know which to fight. It the 
bees to be united are in movable comb hives, put the fullest 
combs of both hives into one. If they arc in box hives, in- 
vert the best one, or the one in which you wish the bees to 
remain ; blow a little smoke among the bees to drive them 
down off the combs whilst you trim the ends of the combs 
square. Having driven the bees out of the other hive, cut 
out the combs and put them on their edges in the first hive, 
putting the heavy end down as the hive now stands; scraps 
of empty comb or wads of paper can be placed between the 
combs to hold them in place until the bees haye fastened them. 
Now, shake the bees of the other colony into this, and sprinkle 
it with your sweet-scented water and cover ii over closely ex- 
cept a small entrance for the bees, and leave it in this position 
until the combs are all fastened iu the hive — one, two or more 
weeks. The bees will eat the honey out of the newly put in 
combs first., making them light, and these combs will be a fine 
addition to their stock for the next season. Two small colo- 
nies, if run together, will eat much less than they would if 
wintered separately. 
WEAK COLONIES SUFFER MOST FROM COLD. 
For though they may not freeze, a too long exposure to a 
low temperature produces dysentery ; and bees are of such 
a cleanly nature, that when their bodies are distended with 
excrement they cannot contain it ; they will leave the hive to 
relieve themselves, even at the risk of perishing. In this 
way colonics arc sometimes depopulated in early spring, when 
they have been too damp in the winter, or have been tco 
thinly populated to keep up the necessary heat. Protracted 
dampness inside of a hive produces dysentery, as it seems to 
sour the honey and chill the bees. A colony that is suffering 
with this disease will generally have the eutrance, and some- 
times most of the whole front of the hive, daubed with ex- 
crement ; and if they can not get out, they will so smear 
the combs, that death is almost inevitable This seems to be 
the only disease that prevails amongst bees except Foul- 
lfrood.* 
•This is a disease in which lire brood rots in tho cells and is fatal to the 
colony. A* the bees of other colonies eat honey from the dieea9ed one, it 
