33 
were added, the queen may go into the sections and deposit eggs 
unless prevented by the insertion of a queen excluder (fig. 13). This, 
merely a sheet of zine with perforations which permit workers, but 
not the queen, to pass, is placed between the brood apartment and the 
supers. ‘The great inconvenience of having brood in some of the sec- 
tions is thereby prevented. When the honey in the sections has been 
nearly capped over, the super may be lifted up and another added 
between it and the brood apartment. Or, should the strength of the 
colony not be sufficient, or the harvest not abundant enough to war- 
rant the giving of so much space, the sections which are completely 
finished may be removed and the partly finished ones used as “‘ bait 
sections” to encourage work in another set of sections on this hive or 
in new supers elsewhere. The objections to the removal of sections 
one by one, and brushing the bees from them, are (1) the time it takes, 
and (2) the danger that the bees when disturbed, and especially if 
smoked, will bite open the capping and be- 
gin the removal of the honey, thus injuring 
the appearance of the completed sections. 
A recent valuable invention, the bee es- 
cape (fig. 3), the use of which is explained on 
pages 15 and 16, when placed between the 
super and the brood nest, permits the bees 
then above the escape to go down into the 
brood apartment, but does not permit their 
reentering the super. If inserted twelve 
to twenty-four hours before the sections are 
to be removed, the latter will be found free 
from bees at the time of removal, provided 
all brood has been kept out of the supers. 
Grading and shipping comb honey.—Be- 
fore marketing the honey it should be care- 
fully graded, and all propolis (‘* bee-glue”’), 
if there be any, scraped from the edges of the sections. In grading for 
the city markets the following rules are, in the main, observed. They 
were adopted by the North American Bee-Keepers’ Association at its 
twenty-third annual convention, held in Washington, D. C., in Decem- 
ber, 1892, and are copied from the official report of that meeting: 
1] 
of, 
' 
- 

Fia. 13.—Perforated zine queen- 
excluder. 
Fancy.—All sections to be well filled; combs straight, of even thickness, and firmly 
attached to all four sides; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain or other- 
wise; all cells sealed except the row of cells next to the wood. 
No, 1,—All sections well filled, but with combs crooked or uneven, detached at the 
bottom, or with but few cells unsealed; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain 
or otherwise. 
In addition to the above, honey is to be classified, according to color, into light, 
amber, and dark. For instance, there will be ‘‘fancy light,’’ ‘‘fancy amber,’’ and 
“fancy dark,’’ ‘‘No. 1 light,’’ ‘‘No. 1 amber,’”’ and ‘‘No. 1 dark.’’ 
59 
