It is most urgent in making such a transfer that the most ample ventilation should be allowed. The bees are of course gorged at the time, and in that condition they are most particularly in need of air; while on the other hand the fact of their imprisonment, together with the shaking attendant on carriage, irritates them and causes them to make such a commotion, that without stringent precautions they would very probably be stifled, and of course the finer the colony the greater is the danger. With an ordinary skep this supply of air cannot be ensured at the top, so that it becomes necessary, if the journey is to last longer than an hour or two, to invert the hive. This must be done with great caution and always in the direction in which the combs run. A sheet of perforated zinc on a board, or a piece of coarse canvas or cheese-cloth, may then be nailed or otherwise fastened with string over the base, thus taking the place of the floor-board, and it is needless to say that this should be done in such a manner that not a single bee can escape. If the journey is likely to be one of more than a few hours it will not do to employ any soft material, as it would in that time be gnawed through; but wire-cloth would answer as well as perforated zinc. As a preliminary to any remove, smoke should be blown in at the entrance repeatedly during half an hour, after which it may be judged that all on the wing will have returned. For carrying a swarm, either a skep or box or anything will serve, and it must be secured and carried mouth upwards in the same way. § XII. SUPPLYING NATURAL COMB. We have spoken above (page 187) of the great value of sheets or strips of wax for assisting the bees in the building of their combs. But when, through another hive having lost its bees at an early stage, the combs themselves can be supplied them in good and clean condition, the advantage is very much greater. Such combs may be fixed in frame hives exactly in the same plan as is adopted on transferring full honeycomb (page 224). Generally speaking the bee-keeper may be satisfied if he can simply insert pure white guide-comb with which to start the bees. Every bar, or if the comb is not plentiful, every other bar, should have a piece fixed to it in the following manner: Cut a piece of clean empty comb of the required size, say two inches square, not less; heat a common flat iron, with which slightly warm the bar; then melt a little bees'-wax upon it; draw the comb quickly over the heated iron, hold it down on the centre of the bar, giving a very slight movement backwards and forwards; then leave the wax to grow cold, and, if cleverly managed, the guide will be found firmly attached. Care must be taken that the pitch or inclination of the comb is the same as it is in the hives--upwards from the centre of each comb.