Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/226

222 stores. In preparing prospectively for thus sharing in the products of the hive, the Cultivator who pursues the storifying system, immediately after the swarming season is over, adds another story or box to the two of which his hive consists, placing it undermost, or as it is called by some Bee-Masters, Nadir-ing. The brood-combs contained in the uppermost story, will, as the young bees are hatched, be quickly filled with honey, and may be removed about the beginning of August. The top cover is then replaced on the next story in position, which was originally the lower, and is now the upper. In ordinary seasons, the bees will have ample time to lay in sufficient food for winter and spring use, after the abstraction of this portion of their stores. As the combs of the upper box are frequently found adhering by their lower extremities to the bars of the next, it will be necessary, before removal, to separate them by means of a very thin long-bladed knife or a fine wire, (a piano-forté string will answer well,) drawn through the hive at the point of junction. The operator will next expel the bees from this box or story, by lifting the top-cover, and blowing in a little smoke, which will cause the inhabitants to retreat quickly to the lower regions. The box may then be taken away, without the operator running the risk of the slightest annoyance. The same effect may be produced by driving. The honey found in this removed box, will not be all honey of the current season, and consequently is not so delicately fine. It is also