27 
sands of bees at that season of the year. Many bees 
are lost by venturing too far away, at a time when sudden 
storms and changes prevent their returning. If you 
have a movable frame hive you can always keep the 
combs bright and new. As a general rule four years 
is long enough for comb to be used , unless you are ac- 
quainted with its true condition. Where the combs con- 
tain all worker cells, and are not over stocked with bee 
bread, they may be used double that time with safety, f; 
A very good way to remove combs is to take some of 
the full frames of honey that has been taken from the 
hive during the summer ; if they are new combs, these 
may be exchanged in the fall for the old ones, and there 
is less young brood at this season of the year, — and 
what there is should be placed to as to occupy the centre 
of the hive. When the bees are looked over in the spring, 
these old combs can be placed on one side of the hive, 
preparatory lor removing them entirely from the hive ; 
either at the commencement of the honey season, or in 
the fall as above described, — thus removing the old 
combs the second year, from the time you wish to renew 
them; making it equal in every respect to a young 
swarm. This course may be pursued from time to time, 
and bees kept in the same hive almost any number of 
years. % 
Your bees do not die because they are three, five, 
or six years old ; the life of the worker bee does not ex- 
ceed twelve months ; if hatched in the height of the 
honey season, they often go the fields the same day they 
emerge from the cells, and their ungovernable desire for 
sweet leads them from day to day to the fields, and many 
times their excessive labor is such, that but few pass the 
first six months. 
Sometimes accidents befall the queen, which ineap- 
