(joli 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



capped over and ripened in the hives, and 

 saved for winter stores ; and although we 

 increased from 11 to -18, not a colony was 

 lost. We have since had opportunities of 

 testing the matter, and we have always 

 found much the best results in wintering 

 wliere we stopped using the extractor a 

 week or two liefore the honey-flow entirely 

 ceased. 



REMOVING SECTIONS FROM THE 

 T SUPERS. 



IS THE Sr.ATTKI) IIONEY-BOARD A NECESSARY IM- 

 PLEMENT IN THE PRODUCTION OF COMB 

 HONEY? 



f^HE late numbers of Gleanings have had 

 §)'■ several articles on removing sections from 

 s the T supers, by Dr. Miller and others. We 

 have used them (iiiite extensively in our 

 apiaries for the past four years, and I should 

 like to have some of our brother bee-keepers tell 

 me what the object is in removing' them all at once. 

 We always clean our sections as we remove them, 

 one at a time, and then they go right into the ship- 

 ping-case. If we do not have our shipping-case 

 ready when the crates come from the hives they 

 are packed up on each other, with a sheet of paper 

 between them to catch drip if any; but we hardly 

 ever have any. 



In Gleanings of July 15th, Ernest says, to use it 

 without the honey-board would be simply intolera- 

 ble. After using them both ways, we much prefer 

 to have no honey-board under our sections; for by 

 e.xperimenting we are convinced that much more 

 honey can be obtained, especially in a poor season 

 like the past, by the non-use of honey-boards of all 

 kinds. I could not but notice how much sooner the 

 bees commenced in the sections, without any hon- 

 ey-boards to crawl through. If the bee-space be- 

 tween the brood-frames and sections is right, and 

 the bees are not crowded for room, they will not 

 build any comb to speak of between sections and 

 frames; and when we wish to examine brood- 

 frames below we do not have the trouble to pry off 

 a honey-board in order to do so. We have never 

 practiced contracting to any extent, as we do not 

 see any advantages obtained in so doing; for by 

 using eight-frame hives, 1;* inches inside measure, 

 we can secure all the honey we ought to take from 

 the bees, and then we do not have to be to the trou- 

 ble of feeding for winter, and by so doing have so 

 much trouble by bees robbing each other. We 

 rarely ever have a case of robbing, as we do no 

 feeding, unless a few colonies need a little to help 

 them in the spring. 



The past season has been a queer one. We never 

 saw half as much white clover; but, as a great 

 many have reported, it did not secrete any honey, 

 owing, we think, to cool nights and too much rain. 

 If it were not for blue thistle coming in bloom 

 about June 15th our crop of honey would have been 

 very small. As it is we have secured half a crop of 

 nice comb honey, and hope to realize more for it 

 than a full crop last year. H. W. Bass. 



Front Royal, Va., Aug. 15, 1887. 



It seems to me, friend B., there is consid- 

 erable advantage in removing the sections 

 all at once, or en masse^ as Dr. Miller terms 

 it. By removing all the sections at one 



time, and cleaning them at another, we se- 

 cure some of the advantages of the division 

 of labor, so called. If you take the sections 

 out one by one from the T super, you will 

 have to fuss ;i while before you can get out 

 the tirst one ; and I feel quite sure that, by 

 Dr. Miller's plan, we can remove all the sec- 

 tions at one operation while you are taking 

 out three or four by your plan". We tried the 

 doctor's plan of emptying the T super, as he 

 describes it on page 2-19, and were very much 

 pleased with it.— On page ;>56 I said, that to 

 dispense with our slatted honey-board would 

 be simply intolerable, and I think so yet. 1 

 grant there is a possibility of getting per- 

 haps a trifle more honey ; and it is possible, 

 also, that the l)ees would enter the sections 

 a little sooner ; but liow tibout the burr- 

 combs which the bees would surely attach to 

 the exposed bottoms of the sections V When 

 you come to tier up, placing a super of emp- 

 ty sections under the one already partly fill- 

 ed with honey, what do you do with the 

 burr-combs that are attached to the bottom 

 of the sections in the super'? Although I 

 knew what would be the probable result, I 

 tried it this summer, just to see how it would 

 seem, and I vowed I would never do it again. 

 In pulling up the super, the lower brood- 

 frames stuck and dropped down, as one of 

 the boys proceeded to slowly tear away the 

 super from off the brood-nest. The bottoms 

 of the sections were covered w^ith little 

 chunks of honey, which dripped and drizzled 

 as he handled it. Now, suppose we had put 

 an empty super in its place, and placed this 

 dauby super on top of the clean one, about 

 the time we had secured our crop of honey 

 we should have had our two supers stuck 

 and gummed together. Why, it seems to me 

 that, to run say 100 colonies in this way, 

 without slatted "honey-boards, would be" m- 

 tolerable''' indeed. You say that you have 

 used the T supers quite extensively for the 

 past four years. Did you not, when you 

 dispensed with the use of slatted honey- 

 boards, use a super something like our ccmi- 

 bined crate— that is, one having slats in the 

 bottom, upon wliich the sections are to rest? 

 If you did, then the task of securing comb 

 honey may not have been so intolerable aft- 

 er all. Still, even then I should prefer the 

 slatted honey-board. Is there any one else 

 who can secure satisfactory results with the 

 T super or Heddon case, without the slatted 

 honey-board ? Perhaps Dr. Miller or Mr. 

 Ileddon or W.Z. II. will say what they think 

 about it.— With the eight-frame hive, con- 

 tracting is not so essential as with the ten- 

 frame hive. Still, I think that taking out 

 two frames and replacing them with dum- 

 mies must be decidedly an advantage. If I 

 am correct, it is the practice of some of those 

 who use contraction to fill out the brood-nest 

 to its full capacity, just as the honey-harvest 

 has nearly come to an end, so that extra 

 brood-frames may be filled with honey when 

 the inflow has entirely ceased. 



In addition to what Ernest has said above, 

 I would remark that, by the use of the slat- 

 ted honey-board, a case of sections comes 

 ofP at any time with perfect ease — so mtich 

 so, that at one of our Michigan conventions 

 ;i one-armed friend said he could pick up 



