First, a little smoke should be blown into the entrance of the box hive or "gum," after which it is lifted off its stand and a modern hive put in its place. The old hive should now be turned upside down, the bottom (if there be a bottom) removed and smoke blown down between the combs, and the extra box (above referred to) placed over it. The operator should now drum vigorously on the outside of the box hive with sticks or clubs, keeping this up until all or nearly all the bees have crawled up into the empty box that has been placed on top. The bees that have now gathered in this box should be emptied in front of the entrance of the new hive as in hiving a swarm (see page 67). If the bees do not readily enter the new hive, it is well to gently brush or smoke them toward the entrance. To prevent robbing, the old "gum" or beehive should now be taken into a bee-tight building or a bee-tent placed over it for the rest of the work unless there are no other colonies of bees in the neighborhood, in which case the work can be done outside. One side of the old box hive or "gum" is now removed, first cutting the comb loose from the side to be removed, when the best and largest of the combs are cut out with the long-bladed knife. The next problem is to cut the best of the pieces of comb (by best are meant those which are regular and straight and contain almost entirely worker-cells or worker-brood), so they will fit tightly in the empty frames that are at hand and ready. To accomplish this, first cut several pieces of string long enough to tie around a frame and lay them across a board or hive-cover provided for this purpose; then lay a slab of comb or pieces of comb fitted together on the board or hive-cover above the strings, and lay over it the empty frame. The knife is now drawn along next to the inside of the frame, marking its exact size and shape on the comb. The frame is then lifted off and the comb trimmed to the required size and fitted into the frame. Care should be taken to cut the comb large enough to make it a snug fit. Now bring the ends of the strings together and tie them around the frame and fitted comb. The several strands of string should come opposite the small pieces of comb and hold them all in place. No bulging of the comb must be allowed; for, unless sufficient space is left between the combs when placed in the hive, the bees will attach the combs to each other so that it will be impossible to remove them from the hive. All patches of drone comb should be rejected and melted into wax, along with other undesirable comb. An excess of drones is not only an added expense to the colony. but also an inducement to'swarm. The frames containing the pieced combs may now be put into the new hive; and in a few days, when the bees have fastened the pieces to the frame and connected them with each other, the bees will gnaw the string to pieces. If these combs are not straight and regular, they should be removed from the hive and melted the next spring and replaced with frames containing full sheets of foundation if they are empty at that time. No honey or seraps of comb should be left exposed, but all such should be dumped into a closed box to keep them away from robber bees. At the close of this work of transferring, everything should be washed up clean to prevent the starting of robbing by other bees. If all worthless comb of the old box hive is rejected, it is likely there will be unfilled space in the new hive. This should be filled either with good combs from other hives or with frames of foundation placed at the sides of the brood, and the bees will stay together on the brood and keep it warm. Usually the best time to do this work of transferring from the old box hives to new hives is in the spring during fruit bloom when the combs are light and without much honey, and when the bees will be working on the bloom and so not likely to start robbing. Transferring can be done, however, at any time when there is a honey flow and should not be undertaken at a time when honey is not coming in; and, if it has to be undertaken during or following the main honey harvest, the combs will be very heavy and disagreeable to handle.