COMU HONEY. 



116 



COMB llOxVEY. 



two scrapers can work at a time, the sides 

 of the box, or tray, being cut away in such a 

 way as to allow a knife to scrape down clear 

 past the edge of the section. Each section, 

 as it is scraped, is put into the shipping- 

 case. We have seen this table in operation 

 and know that it is just the tiling for lumd 

 scraping. 



UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



The more carefully the apiary is manipu- 

 lated in the matter of working lor comb 

 honey, the fewer will be the number of 

 unfinished sections ; but all such are not 

 always the result of improper working of 

 the colonies. With the best of care a sud- 

 den stoppage of the honey-How will throw 

 on the bee-keeper a lot of these sections ; for 

 such stoppages of the nectar supply, no one 

 can foresee in some localities. In the alfalfa 

 regions, and in some other places, it can be 

 told within a few days when the honey w'.ll 

 stop; it is then possible so to arrange the 

 supply of sections on the hives as to leave 

 very few of them unfinished when the sea- 

 son does finally close. 



now DR. MILLER PREVENTS AN OVERSUP- 

 PLY OF UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



Dr. Miller takes off his supers as soon as 

 a majority of the sections in the super are 

 finished. These latter are set aside to be 

 scraped and cased for market, while those 

 unfinished are set back into the supers— the 

 supers to go back on the hives immediately, 

 consequently before the homy-flow f<tops. By 

 proceeding thus he manages to have few un- 

 finished sections at the end of the season. 

 Those that are returned to the hive he fitting- 

 ly styles "• gobacks." These, as fast as they 

 accumulate in the honey-room, are put into 

 the regular hive-supers. Part of these go- 

 back supers may be placed on colonies that 

 show a special aptitude* for finishing up 

 work already begun in sections, and a part 

 may be placed on the regular colonies already 

 at work on their own sections. The great 

 advantage of this plan is that it allows the 

 sections to be taken off before all in the 

 super are finished, consequently before any 

 of the central ones have lost their virgin 

 whiteness. 



Such a plan of procedure is possible only 

 in localities where the honey-flow lasts siif- 

 ficiently long, not only to fill two-thirds of 

 the sections full in the supers, but enough 

 longer to finish out supers of gobacks placed 

 on hives afterward. 



* Some colonies are better at fltiishing- up work al- 

 ready begun than at starting it from tlie raw foun- 

 dation. 



In any case, some unfinished sections will 

 be on hand at the close of the season ; for if 

 tlie surplus be all stored in sections it is not 

 possible to give the exact number of sections 

 that will be finished. 



FEEDING RACK AFTER THE HONEY -FLOW 

 TO COMPLETE UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



The subject of feeding back is one that in- 

 terests a large number of bee-keepers in the 

 comb-honey class, the main object, perhaps, 

 being to prevent unfinished sections. At 

 the same time much can be done toward pie- 

 venting swarming as well, if the sec- 

 tions are removed from the colonies before 

 they are capped and finished up after the 

 danger of swarming is over by the feeding- 

 back process, for it is well known that a 

 great amount of capped honey in the hives 

 is very conducive to swarming. 



Many who attempt to feed back, fail on 

 account of the many diflftculties encountered. 

 Mr. ,J. E. Hand, of Birmingham, Ohio, has 

 made a complete study of this subject, and 

 he finds that, while the work can belprofitably 

 done, much attention must be given to the 

 details, since there are many things to take 

 into consideration. 



He finds it more practicable to use a feeder 

 in which the syrup can be given below the 

 brood-chamber instead of on top, as this is 

 the more natural way for the bees, and they 

 take it more readily. TheQuinby feeder has a 

 tin tray, 2 inches deep, enclosed by a wooden 

 frame of the same depth, which is the same 

 width as the hive, but 2i inches longer. The 

 tin tray is exactly the same length as the hive, 

 and when in use is pushed to the back end 

 of the frame surrounding it, leaving a space 

 of 2i inches in front for the bees to pass out 

 and in the hive. The other end of the tin 

 tniy projects the 2i inches beyond the hive 

 at the back to allow space for filling it. A 

 framework of slats lengthwise of the feedei 

 sits in the tray for the bees to travel ovei 

 while working in the feeder so that they 

 may not be drowned. The feeder rests square 

 on the bottom-board, and the hive covers tl.e 

 feeder except the 2^ inches at the back end, 

 which space is covered by a little board. The 

 bees can not get into the place where the 

 feed is poured in, and the honey (about six 

 quarts) flows evenly under all parts of the 

 hive, where it can be quickly taken up by 

 the bees. 



Many fail in their attempt at feeding back 

 for the reason that they do not select the 

 right time of the year. It is best to begin 

 right after the main honey-flow has ce.ised 

 before the work in the supers is over. At 



