rUAMES, TO MANIPULATE. 



221 



FRAMES, TO MANIPULATE. 



jerk remove all or nearly all of the bees. 

 When more convenient one can swing the 

 frame, pendulum fashion, with one arm, 

 letting the corner drop violently against the 

 ground while the other end is held in the 

 hand. See the two illustrations at the top 

 of page 220. See Hives. 



now TO ASCERTAIN THE CONDITIOK OF TIIK 

 HIVE WITHOUT HANDLING FRAMES. 



A good many, in working for extracted 

 honey, operate on the tler-up principle, leav- 

 ing the supers all on the hives until the sea 

 sin is over. By that time it is important 

 that robbers be given no opportunity to help 

 themselves to sweets, when the honey is 

 taken off; but before doing so the condition 

 of the supeis should be determined in ad- 

 vance. In order tn keep abend of the bees 

 it is necessary to make an examination from 

 time to time. Toward the early part of the 

 season it is customary to place the empty 

 supers under those partly filled. As the sea- 

 son began to draw toward its close, the pro- 

 cess is reversed— that is to say, the empties 

 were put on top of those partly filled. 



In order to determine the amount of honey 

 in any super, it is not necessary to take off 

 the cover nml ])ull tlie hive ap;irt. If it is 



tiered up four and five stories high, it in- 

 volves a large amount of labor and consider- 

 able lifting to pull the supers off one by one, 

 inviting the attention of robbers in the op- 

 eration. If one is supplied with a good strong 

 steel hive-tool and a smoker, he can get a 

 fair idea of the filling of any super, without 

 even removing the cover from the hive. In 

 the series of snap-shots shown herewith, the 

 reader will be able to gather, almost at a 

 glance, the exact method, to be used in de- 

 termining what the bees are doing. 



Let us take an example. We will start 

 with the hive shown in Fig. 5, opposite page. 

 It has three supers. The middle one is the 

 one on which the bees began work first, and 

 at the time of this examination it should be 

 completely filled. The bottom super was 

 placed under after the middle one was about 

 half filled. The third super was put on top 

 because there would probably not be more 

 than a week more of honey-flow. 



At this time we desire to know what the 

 bees have actually done; so, without remov- 

 ing the telescope cover on top nor the super 

 cover directly beneath, we extend the thin 

 blade of the hive-tool, broad end, between 

 tho two lower supers at the hack end of the 



UKAiiNlNG CONDITION OF HlViC WITHOUT REMOVING COVKR OR PULLING TO PIECES. 



