the combs, as they were hollow buildings, do receiue a ſound & noiſe, procured then bigger, ſo that when there is hearde a big & hoarſe ſound of ye hūming of them, then is it not yet meet to geld ye combs. Varro writeth, ye it is thē time to gelde hiues, when as you ſee within, ye the Bees hāg cluſtring round, & ye the holes of the hony combes be couered ouer, as it were with thin caules, for then be they full of honny. Now the day of gelding the hiues ought to be done timely in the morning, when as the Bees are aſtonied throughe the colde aire, and not done in the heate of the day, when they be procured to fly forth of ye hiues, and being then very angry, to ſting thoſe perſons which come to the hiues. The maner of gelding ye hiues is on this wiſe, firſt ſtop the holes of the hiues, that the Bees paſſe not forth, with graſſe or ſome other hearbe, after that putte vnder fine linnen ragges, or ſtrawe, making a little ſmoake with the ſame, whiche ſmoake ſo flying vppe, cauſeth the Bees after to breake & leaue their cluſtering togither.
After theſe, with two inſtruments or tooles of yron, made for the only purpoſe, of a foote and a halfe long, or rather ſomewhat longer made, of whiche the one ought to be a long knife, and broade of either ſide the edge, with a hafte, and hauing a crooked file on the one end. The other at the beginning plaine, and very ſharpe, whereby with this the combes may the readier and quicklier be cutte downe, with that other inſtrument ſcraped cleane, and whatſouer filth falleth off, drawne awaye, and throwne aſide. But where the hiue of the hinder parte, or parte behinde, ſhall haue no voide place emptie, then make a ſmoake (as Varro commaundeth) with Galbanum and drie Oxe dung, which ought to be made in a earthē fuming pan, filled with quicke coles, or a pan of earth with a narrow mouth, and a handle like to it. So that the one part oughte to be ſharper or narrower vpwarde, by whiche the ſmoake may paſſe by the little holes, and the other parte where the coles are, broader, and with a large mouth of the one ſide of it, by which the perſon may blowe the coles: Nowe ſuche a pot when it is ſet within the hiue, and the ſmoake ſtirred vp to the Bees, whiche
