; some will leak then, but not as much as when the hive is
bottom up. Honey that runs out, when the hive is bottom up, will soak
into the wood at the base of the combs; this will have a tendency to
loosen the fastenings, and render them liable to fall, &c.

The next March the bees were again transferred from the old to the new
hives. My method is as follows: As the combs in the hive to receive the
bees are rather cold, I set them by the fire, or in a warm room, for
several hours previous. I take a warm room before a window, and as some
few bees fly off, they will collect there. The new hive is turned
bottom up on the floor; the old one on a bench by the side of it,
having smoked the bees to keep them quiet. One comb at a time is taken
out, and the bees brushed into the new hive; (a little smoke will keep
them there). When through, I get the few on the window, and tie over a
cloth to confine them, and keep them warm for a few hours longer.
Paralyzing with puff-ball will answer instead, but they do not always
all fall out of the combs when the hive is filled to the bottom, and it
is possible that if a few were left, the queen might be one. Also a
very few bees are worth saving at this season, and the combs might have
to be broken out at last, for this purpose.

When a good-sized family is put in a hive containing fifteen or twenty
pounds of honey, and near half full of clean new comb, they are about
as sure to fill up and cast a swarm, as another that is full and has
wintered a swarm.

CAUSE OF THEIR SUPERIOR THRIFT.

One cause of superior thrift may be found in the circumstance, that all
moth eggs and worms are frozen to death, and the bees are not troubled
with a single worm before June. No young bees have to be removed to
work them out. Nearly every young bee that is fed and sealed up, comes
forth perfect, and of course makes a vast difference in the increase.

SWARMS PARTLY FILLED PAY BETTER THAN TO CUT OUT THE HONEY.

Any person wishing to increase his stocks to the utmost, will find this
plan of saving all part-filled hives, of much more advantage than to
break it out for sale. Suppose you have an old stock that needs
pruning, and have neglected it, or it has refused to swarm, and give
you a chance without destroying too much brood. You can let it be, and
put on the boxes; perhaps get twenty-five pounds of cap honey; and then
winter the bees as described, and in the spring transfer them to the
new combs. A