bees having been smoked beforehand so as to get them to fill themselves with honey: or the two combs between which the queen is found may be lifted, with adhering bees, and placed in the center of the colony to which the queen is to be given. Before doing this it is best to smoke the latter pretty thoroughly, and if two of the brood combs from this hive have been removed a few hours before and placed, after their bees have been shaken off, in the colony to be united, and all other combs taken away from the latter, the bees, with their queen, will be clustered on these brood combs, and they may be lifted up without disturbance and placed in the middle of the other hive, whose supers and cover are to be put in place at once and the bees left to quiet down and resume storing. Under these circumstances the loss of a queen will be very rare: nevertheless, in the case of an exceptionally valuable one, cages and other methods are advisable. (See Chapter IX.) ARTIFICIAL INCREASE. The time lost in watching for swarms and hiving them, the occasional losses of swarms, and the vexations attendant upon their issuance, such as their clustering in tall trees, uniting and killing queens, and the delay in their swarming when the time has come for it, have led bee keepers to devise methods which would save their time and avoid as far as possible the uncertainties connected with this feature of their work. Where increase is desired the question is one of considerable importance. In the more northern States, where the main honey yield comes on suddenly and is abundant for a short period only, and swarming is confined mainly to a period of four to six weeks, or even to three weeks if the colonies are of pretty uniform strength, this question has less weight; but farther south, where the yield is more prolonged and the period during which swarms are liable to issue is sometimes extended over three or four months, it is of considerable moment, and the bee master who intends to multiply the number of his colonies will do well to follow some good system of control. DIVIDING.