chapman’s handy-book. 
44 
Iii the latitude of Auckland, the work of a hive is 
suspended for a month or so, varying of course with the 
season ; whilst in the south, I think their state of torpor 
will he found to extend over a longer period, and the 
habits of the bee will differ less from those of their 
English brethren. Experience, therefore, must teach 
bee masters what season is the best for a great take of 
In describing the management of the cottage hive, at 
page 22, we said that fifteen days after swarming was 
the time to put on 
The Bell Glass or Super. 
Mr. Cotton goes on to describe that, by means of bell 
glasses, or in lack of them, small straw caps, pure honey 
may betaken in the height of the breeding season. ^ Put 
your glass on the top of your box the veiy day the 
swarm is put into it; and if it be a strong one, they will 
immediately take possession of the glass, and store up 
honey there ; while the c^ueen will confine her oreeding 
operations to the box below. It is a very good plan to 
fix a bit or two of pure comb in the lower part of the 
glass, as a foundation or beginning for them. This may 
be done by holding the glass to the nre till it becomes 
as hot as the hand can bear; then steadily, yet firmly, 
press a piece of pure comb to it, which will melt where 
it touches the glass, and setting again almost imme¬ 
diately, will firmly fix the wdiole comb in its place. 
Take care not to put the comb topsy turvy, but in its 
natural position, as it stood in the hive where it was 
made. Take the glass off directly it is full, and all 
sealed over. The bees always swarm with their honey 
bags full; and they often take the greatest part of the 
honey from a bell glass, as provision for their journey, 
leaving nothing but empty combs where the day before 
there was plenty of honey. I like the bell glass to stand, 
as I have said, on the bars themselves, and not on the 
*Mr. Cotton is wrong, for the brood comb is more generally the 
first work of the bees, and this, in New Zealand, is completed in 
about 14 days. 
