THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



365 



This is only one of the many manipu- 

 lations in the producing of a crop of 

 hone}', and one can easily figure out 

 how it would be possible to so work 

 our bees, that the item of labor alone, 

 would eat up all of the profits of the 

 business. I have been in the yards 

 where a good crop of honey was pro- 

 produced each year, one in particular, 

 where nearly 100 colonies were kept, 

 where it did not seem as if there were 

 any two hives or supers alike. Well 

 do I remember being at this particular 

 yard one day during our main honey 

 flow in June. This man was putting 

 on comb honey supers. His hives were 

 numbered, had to be, and each super 

 was also numbered, to correspond 

 with the hives. In other words, the 

 supers w^ere not i:iterchange?ble; each 

 super worked to the best advantage 

 only on a certain hive. We were going 

 down through the yard, and he says 

 "No. 36 seems to be in need of more 

 super room." The cover was lifted 

 off. Yes, they needed another super. 

 I went with him to the honey house, 

 after the super. Says he : "No. 36," 

 "No. 36," "I think it must be in that 

 pile back there." Two or three piles 

 of supers were shoved to one side, 

 when, sure enough, there was "No. 

 36,'' next to the bottom of the pile, and 

 seven or eight supers were piled over 

 to get "36." Then I noticed he had a 

 box on his wheelbarrow with several 

 lengths and thicknesses of splints and 

 small sticks. After finding the right 

 super, we went back to the hive, where 

 I saw the splint act worked; for, sure 

 enough, he needed then:, as, after 

 placing the super on the hive there 

 was a crack clear across one side, that 

 had to be calked up. I don't know 

 how long it took this man to give this 

 super, but one thing I was sure of, it 

 took him altogether too long for prac- 

 tical honey production. How much 

 more business like it would have been 

 to have had every hive in this yard just 

 alike, then, of course, every super just 



right to fit every hive, then it would 

 have been possible to load up the 

 wheelbarrow with supers, go to the 

 front row and give room, then the sec- 

 ond row, etc., until super room had 

 been given to the whole yard. You 

 will notice that, with this business 

 system, last described, there is no 

 hunting for some special super, to fit 

 some ill-shaped hive; the first super 

 you can get hold of is sure to fit. 

 Now, I do not think it is any exaggera- 

 tion when I say ten of the latter well- 

 fitting supers could be given the bees 

 to one of the first; in that case, if it 

 took the man with the old rickety hives 

 all his time toattend 100 colonies, don't 

 you see, with the last, everything-fit- 

 plan, it would be possible for a man, 

 with everything modern, and up to 

 date, to work, saj', five yards with the 

 same labor that this man gives his one 

 yard. This use any-old-kind-of-hive, 

 or implement, man, is the one who says 

 any one working more than one yard 

 of bees, cannot work them well. Still, 

 further, don't you see that this system, 

 if it could be called a system, is one 

 that no one except himself can under- 

 stand ? Hired help (?) Well I guess 

 not. Hired help would not have the 

 patience to go through all of these 

 manoeuvres even if it were possible to 

 understand them. 



An OUTLINE OF THINGS TO BE TOLD. 



In the January Review, I will talk 

 about hives and fixtures; tell which 

 hive is best for out-yard work, and 

 why; and whj' I have adopted a differ- 

 ent hive for comb, than for extracted 

 honey. This will likely take all the 

 the space I have in that number; then 

 will come the location, and the locat- 

 ing of yards; then spring-work and 

 then the busy season, with too many 

 headings to mention here, and then 

 last but not least, the turning of the 

 crop into cash to the best advantage. 

 RKMUS, Mich., Dec, 11, 1906. 



