FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IX. 655 



ing, out would go the bees no matter whether it was March or April, 

 and as I set them out I note the condition of each colony and if any 

 need stores I give them frames of honey in the supers, only at this 

 time I uncap these frames. 



A 25 cent steel tooth hair brush, you can buy at any drug store, will 

 do the business. 



If I was a young man I would use the Alexander plan of taking 

 from the bees all sealed combs of honey about the first of Maiy, extract 

 the same and feed back. T believe it would pay well for the labor. 



I handle my bees very little during ttoe months of April and May. 



Of course, I watch the entrance indications, and if I see siome colony 

 not up to standard I make an investigation as to the cause. 



My colonies arc mostly in ten frame hives with a five inch extracting 

 super on top and with plenty of stores, there is very little to do during 

 the spring. 



Each year in the early part of April I order one dozen leather col- 

 ored Italian queens from some breeder in the south to be sihipped me 

 to arrive the first of June. 



I do this to keep up the standard of my bees, as I don't raise queens 

 and am obliged to use queen cells reared in colonies that have cast 

 natural swarms. 



Well, it is, say from the 1st to the 10th of June. 



i\Iy comb honey supers are ready having been prepared during the 

 winter, the hives are full of bees, and stores, probably four or five col- 

 onies ihave already swarmed. 



My scale hive shows a gain of one-half or one pound for the first 

 time this month. 



Tomorrow the comb honey supers must go on. 



This is the critical time with the comb honey producers. 



For your year's crop w-ill depend a great deal on how we handle our 

 bees at this time, and on this first super we place on the hives. 



You will note this is an Ideal super, or a super containing Ideal 

 sections. 



I ase this style of super, first, because it holds thirty-five sections or 

 about what I can comfortably handle when filled and I am not obliged 

 to buy or handle as many supers in the production of a crop. 



Second, because I can clean two cases of plain sections in the same 

 time it takes to clean one case of bee way sections, and the sections 

 cost less. 



Third, because the shipping cases are more compact and cheaper, re- 

 quiring a smaller and- cheaper shipping crate, and 



Last, but not least, because I can use a five inch extracting frame 

 at the outside on each side of the sections in this first super. 



In preparing my supers during the winter, I use a blank extracting 

 frame on the outside of each super. 



These blank frames I use simply to keep the sections in place till 

 the super is ready to go on the hive. 



Next is the sections. 



I cut my foundation so it fits accurately the inside of the section, 

 then with a 15 cent camel's hair brush, that you can buy at your drug 



