47

THE HONEY BEE IN NEW ZEALAND. 45

lid, with small holes cut in it, which is the common way
of putting them in, for the bees have a freer passage to
the glass. The manner of taking them when full is very
simple: I have one of the rims which run round the top
board pinned to it, and not nailed: this is removed when
a glass is to be taken, and a thin carving knife passed
under the top, to separate the comb and the glass from
the bars, to which they are generally firmly united. In
no other way is it possible to take away a full glass,
without certainly breaking the comb, and possibly the
glass itself. The bees which happen to be in the glass
at the time it is taken are easily got out of it by the
means recommended for the top of boxes.
Dr. Cumming, in a letter to the TIMES, says: - In answer
to another inquiry, do I approve using stupifying fumes,
as of puff-ball, &c., in order to expel the bees from supers
full of honey? - I say, certainly not. It may not injure
the bees if judiciously administered. Some highly re-
commend it. But it is not necessary. The bees will
leave the super on its being detached from the hive and
carried to a little distance, and will return in an hour or
two to their home and their queen. The only case in
which I have recourse to fumigation is when any portion
of the comb, through accidental admission of wet, has
become mouldy. A few whiffs of puff-ball may be in-
jected during five minutes by means of an instrument
sold for this purpose. As soon as the humming noise
ceases, lift the hive and cut out the mouldy portion of the
comb, replace it, and in twenty minutes the bees will
again be at work. This is the only case in which I like
to employ either this or tobacco-smoke, which answers as
well if not too long continued.
Your apiary or bee-shed should be placed as near
your dwelling as possible, sheltered from the north and
north-east winds (south and south-west in New Zealand),
and at the greatest possible distance from poultry. Fre-
quently, but quietly and unobtrusively, visit your bees,
watch them at work in your bee-glasses, or by windows
in your bee-boxes. Let your children play beside them.
They are fond of children, and unless violently irritated
they will not injure them. I can state this from very