132 



THE BEE-KEEPEMS' REVIEW. 



necessary, in my opinion, for the sake of 

 the quality of the honey but for the appear- 

 ance. Give the bees a set of sweet, clean 

 combs that have never contained brood. Let 

 them fill and seal them and then extract the 

 honey. Then extract some honey from a 

 section of comb honey, a section in which 

 the comb has been built simultaneously 

 with the filling, and it is my opinion that one 

 honey cannot be told from the other. 



A Simple Method of Getting Outside Sections 

 * Finished. 



We all know how prone are the bees to 

 commence work in the central sections, and 

 to delay the filling and capping of those at 

 the outside and corners of the supers; well," 

 Mr. S. T. Pettit of Canada describes in 

 Gleanings a very simple plan for over- 

 coming this objection. Here is what he 

 says. 



" Doubtless all close-observing comb- 

 honey producers have noticed that the bees 

 generally commence work at or near the 

 center of the super, and that the work ex- 

 tends outward, the front generally being 

 reached and finished first. From this we 

 can readily understand that, while the cen- 

 ter and front sections are ready to receive 

 another super under them they must wait 

 until more work is done upon the side and 

 back sections. 



Now, as the bees come in they generally 

 go up somewhere near the center; and as 

 they find the sections advanced well nigh to 

 completion, the honey inust go beyond. 

 Bees pass slowly and reluctantly over well- 

 filled combs or capped honey in search of 

 storeroom. Itis obvious that this causes 

 delay and loss of time, and is a strain upon 

 their energy and industry. In course of 

 time another super is given, and a similar 

 process, though in a less marked degree, is 

 repeated. 



If by some simple means not distasteful 

 to the bees we can cause them, as they come 

 in from the fields, to separate and distribute 

 themselves to the sides and back end of 

 the super, work at these points will general- 

 ly commence and keep pace with the work 

 at the center. 



Right here I may be allowed to say that 

 my new system accomplishes this desirable 

 feature most admirably, and I will now 

 proceed to give it. 



I get out two wedge-shaped pieces of 

 pineor basswood for each hive I expect to 

 use during the season. These are one inch 

 square at one end and one inch wide at the 

 other end, which is brought down to a 

 feather edge, and of the same length as that 

 of the hive. Now, when the bees Vjegiu to 

 suffer with heat and for want of more air, 

 with a suitable lever, after giving the bees a 



whiff or two of smoke, I pry up the front of 

 the hive and slip under each side of it one 

 of these wedges; this gives an entrance 1% 

 inches by the width of the hive. This large 

 entrance and elevated hive, by supplying lots 

 of air and ample roominess, comforts the 

 bees and retards swarming. 



But the particular i^oint to which I de- 

 sire to draw attention, consists in the trick 

 played upon the bees, which causes them to 

 distribute themselves to the sides and back 

 end of the super. For a short time after 

 raising the front end of the hive, the bees, 

 as they come from the fields, will seem a 

 little confused when they find the bottom- 

 bars out of reach; but they will soon find a 

 new way up, some going to the right and 

 some to the left, going up the side of the hive 

 instead of the middle, as formerly. The 

 wedges close up the openings and form con- 

 tinuous passages up, and some will march 

 right along toward the back end until they 

 can reach the bottom-bars. This places the 

 bees with their loads just where wanted. 

 Now see — this is all quite simple, and not at 

 all objectionable to the bees. 



Permit me to say I have carefully watch- 

 ed the process of comb building and filling 

 under this system; and in some cases, 

 though they are the exceptions, I have 

 found the outside sections rather ahead of 

 those near or at the center — one very im- 

 portant point grtined. 



But there is yet another new and valuable 

 feature to be described. First, however, 

 allow me to say that we have often, to our 

 sorrow, found that +'"'^ ontsides of the out- 

 side sections, though fairly well filled, are, 

 at least a sood many of them, but poorly 

 capped. This has often been a sore trial— so 

 many poorly finished sections after looking 

 so repeatedly and waiting so lo g. 



It always seemed to me that, if more 

 room conld be furnished, more bees could be 

 present, and thus a more uniform and nec- 

 essary heat kept up day and night at the 

 outside sections; then the bees would feel 

 and act like those farther inside, and would 

 eo on and finish up the job " in a workman- 

 like manner. " But the difficulty would 

 always come up that, if more space was giv- 

 en, it would only be filled with honey in 

 poor shape. 



At length I conceived the idea of giving 

 two bee-spaces by putting in a divider to 

 divide the extra space into two bee-spaces. 

 Following up the ideal set myself at exper- 

 imenting to test what seemed to me so full 

 of promise. After experimenting with a 

 good many different devices with more or 

 less success, I tried the one which is here 

 described, and it has given very good sat- 

 isfaction iudeed. 



It is simply as follows: A piece of bass- 

 wood or pine, about a sixth of an inch thick, 

 anc> just the width and length of a separator, 

 is bored as full of i'>-lG inch holes as the 

 wood will stand and not split to pieces, 

 and 5^4 inch strips are nailed across it. 

 These are turned outside against the wall of 

 the super, thus forming two bee-spaces in- 

 stead of one. The bees cluster on both sides 

 of the divider, and pass freely both ways 



