282 
THE HIVE AND IIONEV-BEE. 
thickness, one-eighth of an inch air-space will he left all 
around the hive, which, with the other ventilators, will 
give air enough. If an old stock, in hot weather, is to 
he moved any distance in such a hive, it will he advisable 
to fasten wire-cloth in front of the portico, so that the bees 
can leave their combs (p. 91) and cluster there. Hives 
with movable frames should be arranged in such a posi- 
tion that the frames run from front to rear , and not from 
side to side, in the carriage. My glass hives ought never 
to be sent off for swarms. 
Inexperienced persons will seldom find it profitable to 
begin bee-keeping on a large scale. By using movable- 
comb hives, they can rapidly increase their stocks after 
they have acquired skill, and have ascertained, not simply 
that money can be made by keeping bees, but that they 
can make it. While large profits can be realized by care- 
ful and experienced bee-keepers, those who are otherwise 
will be almost sure to find their outlay result only in 
vexatious losses. An Apiary neglected or mismanaged is 
worse than a farm overgrown with weeds or exhausted 
by ignorant tillage ; for the land, by prudent management, 
may again be made fertile, but the bees, when once 
destroyed, are a total loss. 
TRANSFERRING BEES FROM COMMON TO MOVABLE-COMB 
HIVES. 
This process may be easily effected whenever the 
weather is warm enough for bees to fly.* It is conducted 
as follows: Drive the bees into a forcing-box (p. 154), 
which put on their old stand, and carry the parent-hive to 
some place where you cannot be annoyed by other bees. 
Have on hand tools for prying off a side of the hive; a 
* It has frequently been done, In Winter, for purposes of experiment, by re mew 
Ing the bees into a warm room. 
