HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 259 



perienced beekeeper may manage to obtain good results with 

 other and less practicable hives, as it is not the hive that makes 

 the honey. The surplus arrangements should be made so as to 

 keep the sections clean and square while in operation by the bees. 

 I have experimented with many different kinds such as the wide 

 frames, the T supers, the Heddon case and others. The wide 

 frames are too much bother to handle, the T supers have left the 

 sections the best of any I have used. The Heddon case comes 

 near to the best (generally speaking) and on this principle I (7 or 

 8 years ago) constructed a case which has the desired features 

 (not patented). This case keeps the sections clean and square, is 

 light and easily emptied, it has a two inch wide glass strip on 

 each side, with wooden slides over them. With these little win- 

 dows I can see the advancement of the sections (when time for 

 tiering up, or taking them off) in a moment at any time, without 

 disturbing the bees in the least. This arrangement is the most 

 valuable and the most convenient one, for comb honey production 

 of any I have ever seen or read about. With all other supers we 

 have to disturb the bees more or less to find out the true condition 

 and advancement of the sections, which disturbing means a loss of 

 honey, or many dollars and cents during the honey season; for, 

 when bees are disturbed while busily at work they cease it for 

 some time, neither will they finish the sections as nicely if bothered 

 every little while. All unneccessary disturbances should be care- 

 fully avoided. 



If the capacity of the brood chamber is right, then con- 

 tracting is not advisable, nor is reversing ; neither is it to any ad- 

 vantage to change frames, brood, bees or do any other such tinker- 

 ing. Provided the colonies are in a normal condition, the less 

 such colonies are disturbed the better will be the results. Sepa- 

 rators are not needed and are a hindrance to the bees and more 

 work and expense to the keeper, but instead of separators we 

 must stand the hives level from side to side and have the hives 

 plumb full of worker bees, if this is done I assure you that you 

 will not want any separators to get nice section honey. Small or 

 weak colonies cannot profitably be worked for comb honey ; but 

 considerable extracted honey may be obtained from such or they 

 may be united. The nearer the section cases can be in connection 

 with the brood nest, the quicker the bees will enter and work in 

 the sections. Mine are only a bee space apart. Queen and brood 

 are the "highly affectionate elements" for the worker bees and are 

 thereby greatly encouraged for the storage of honey, but bees 

 without queen or brood are discouraged and are no good for 

 honey production. It seems ridiculous to see it claimed by some 

 writers that they get better results by taking away the queen. 

 Queen excluding honey boards are a necessary evil and a hindrance, 

 though I have had but little brood in the sections without them, 

 except occassionally when two or three swarms go together, and 

 when I hive them into one hive. At such times queen excluding 

 honeyboards for a number of days are in their proper place, but 

 at any other time they do more harm than good for comb honey 

 production. Climate and location may make some difference. 



