203 
TIIE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
should examine a swarm two or three days after it is 
hived, when, by a little management, any irregularities in 
their combs may be easily corrected Some combs may 
need a little compression, to bring them into their proper 
positions, and others may even require to be cut out, and 
’ fastened as guides in other frames; but no pains should 
be spared to see that they are all right, before the work 
has gone so far as to make it laborious to remedy any 
defects. If a colony is small it ought to be confined, by 
a movable partition, to such a space in the hive as it can 
occupy with comb — as well for its encouragement, as to 
economize its animal heat, and guard against irregularities 
in comb-building. Varro, who flourished before the 
Christian Era, says (Liber III., Cap. xviii.), that bees be¬ 
come dispirited, when placed in hives that are too large. 
The possession of five frames of straight worker-comb, 
may be made to answer an admirable end, if given to a 
new swarm, so as to alternate with its empty frames. 
After the bees have had possession of them two or three 
days, they may be politely informed that these worker- 
combs were only loaned to them as patterns, and their new 
combs may be alternated with empty frames. Five combs 
may thus be used for many successive swarms. 
As the artificial guides increase the expense of the 
frames, and cannot be invariably relied on , the practical 
Apiarian will aim, as far as possible, to dispense with their 
use. I have devised a plan — which will be elsewhere de¬ 
scribed — for superseding them, and enabling the beginner 
to compel his bees, without any comb, to build in the 
frames with entire regularity. 
It must be obvious to every intelligent bee-Jceeper , that 
the perfect control of the combs of the hive is the sold of 
a system of practical management , which may be modi¬ 
fied to suit the wants of all who cultivate bees. Even the 
