THK BEE-KHHi 1:kS RHVIHW. 



199 



of roDiu: it liciii,;;' uiHhTstoiMl (if course, 

 llijit llu' f.Msf partiy lillrd with uu- 

 A\orl;cil sections, funiislics inoro I'ooin 

 than the other; but to a weak colony. 

 no more uuliuished sections should '>e 

 ,L;i\cn than it is i-easonably c("itain 

 to consiileti'. tliou.^h they he in tli(> case 

 riuMiishiuK the Ki*t';>tcr amount of room. 

 Now, as Icisswood comes into full 

 bloom, if it be yieldinii' nectar freely, 

 care must be (>.\ercised that no colony 

 is without room for the storing' of hon- 

 ey. A case of s(>ctions may be till(>d 

 so rapidly Avhen basswood is yieldinc 

 bountifully that it is [iractically fu'.l 

 while the capping of the honey has 

 scarcely bej;;un. Sucli a case no lon.i:- 

 cr supplies room for stora.ije. Xo 

 anxiety need be felt about the ca])pinii;. 

 Tliat is sure to be attended to. The 

 present need is nnim. Even yet, if tlie 

 outlook is favorable, a case of empty 

 s(>ctions may be safely placed under 

 those alread.v on. Or there may be 

 colonies in tlie apiary with two or 

 tliree supers, none of whicli is full, 

 but are all well .started. The colony _ 

 has more than it can do. One oi' two 

 of these should be removed aiid 

 placed where conditioiis ^ive promise 

 of completion. Smnetimes it is advis- 

 alile to divide a partly tilled case put- 

 ting about lialf the sections in another 

 case and complete tlie tilling of each 

 case with miworked sections in the 

 manner already described. The ad- 

 vantages of this coiu'se are evident. It 

 practically insures the completion of 

 tlie sections containing honey, and sup- 

 plies further room if needed. If a 

 colony has about u.sed up its room, and 

 tliere is no other resource, a case of 

 fresh sections nia.v lie put under those 

 already on the hive, or over a case 

 still having room, and under such as 

 are about full of honey. Keep in mind 

 that sometimes the season liolds out 

 longer than is foreseen, and, on the 

 otlier hand, that the bees ha\e a ca- 



pacity for carrying considerable hon- 

 ey, .ind the same may lie i)ut in out-of- 

 the-way places, which will all go into 

 the sections if room be given after tAVO 

 (,r three days of over ciMwding. All 

 understand that a colony which has 

 (;!.<t a iirime swarm, and has been 

 l-revented from casting after swarms, 

 will, during a good flow of nectar, fill 

 its chjimber with honey. Colonies 

 in this c-ondition with good young 

 ([U'vns fairly started laying, will gen- 

 erally do good work, finisliing partl3' 

 filled sections even when the storing 

 capacity of otlier colonies is practical- 

 ly e.vhausted. For reasons already 

 suggested, I do not think there is dan- 

 ger of lessening the yield if only a 

 small amount of room be allowed to- 

 wards the end of the season. It is 

 hardly necessary to intimate that if 

 one puts a high value on drawn combs 

 \\\ sections, he is without an incentive 

 to gu.-iid very sedulously against giv- 

 ing more room than necessary. I do 

 not value very liiglily tlie idea of iiut- 

 ting empty sections on the top of those 

 nearly full. It is a goad enougli place 

 to sl(>re a super, but before liees will 

 go up through two or three tilled cas- 

 es to worii foundation and store lione.v, 

 they will be badly in need of room in 

 a more convenient situation. Besides, 

 if the plan be at all effective the in- 

 tervening comb honey becomes the 

 bees" higliway, and thus used is more 

 or less stained. 



A few yeai's ago there was much 

 said about feeding back honey to se- 

 cure the completion of unfinished sec- 

 tions, but the idea seems to have, 

 riglitly, I thinlc, gone out of fashion. 

 IToney thus produced is not of very 

 good apiieai-ance: it begins to candy 

 in the fall: soon becomes solid; and 

 is of a decidedly poor flavor. I now 

 think it is preferable to so manage 

 that the number of unfinished sections 

 is so small that tliere is no occasion 



