No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 365 



bee supplies can sell them for much lei»s than you can make them 

 for, or than you can hire them made for. Besides, they are better 

 made. In making hives, sections, and in fact almost anything con- 

 nected with bee-keeping, there is need of very great exactness, and 

 supply manufacturers have fine machinery nicely adjusted, and, mak- 

 ing by the hundred or thousand (some things by the hundred thou- 

 sand), they can work everything to the best advantage. So you will 

 find it the best way to buy everything ready-made, or at least ready 

 to be nailed together. In fact, anything like hives or supers that 

 must be nailed together would better be bought in the flat, as the 

 freight will be less. In most cases, nails of the right kind and quan- 

 tity will be sent with each order to put together the articles. 



PUTTING ON SUPERS. 



In most places in Pennsylvania, the principal harvest is from 

 white clover and linden, or basswood. Fruit bloom, dandelions and 

 many other things are of value, because they give the bees some- 

 thing to live on, fruit bloom being especially valuable because it 

 helps to build up the colony in time for the clover .harvest. Buck- 

 wiieat, in some places gives a second harvest of dark honey. But 

 it is not a sure thing that the bees can find nectar in the blossoms, 

 even when the plants bloom abundantly'. Just why, no one seems to 

 know. 



However, it is wise to be ready for the harvest, whether it comes 

 or not. Receptacles for surplus honey should be on the hives a little 

 before they are really needed. A common rule is to watch for 

 the first appearance of patches of fresh white wax being plastered 

 on the upper parts of the brood combs, and then put on supers. 

 This will not do very well for box-hives, but you may use another 

 guide which is all right for any kind of hives. Put on supers 

 when you see the first white clover blossoms. The bees will hardly 

 begin storing surplus until about ten days after the very first clover 

 blossoms appear. 



If you want to get surplus honey from a colony in a box-hive, 

 you may make a box to cover the whole of the hive, the box being 

 six inches deep, or you can make boxes large enough so that two 

 oi' four of them will cover the hive. Have glass in one side of each 

 box, so you can see when the box is filled, and fasten a little comb 

 in the top as a starter. A cap or outside cover must be over all. 

 To give the bees access to this surplus room, bore about eight one- 

 inch holes in the top of the hive. Never mind if you do bore right 

 into the combs and honey in the hive; the bees wmII patch it up 

 all rlHit. 



