NOVKMBER 1, 1015 



887 



GENERAL COMMESPONDENCE 



HOW TO PRODUCE NON-SEPARATORED HONEY 



BY ALLEN LATHAM 



It is unquestionably easier to produce a 

 line article witli separators than without 

 them; but when the proper precautions are 

 followed, it is not diflicult to produce a 

 iiood marketable product without separa- 

 toi-s. This article will be devoted to a de- 

 scription of the method 1 follow. 



Several things are absolutely essential to 

 success in producing: non-separatorcd comb 

 honey, and perhaps the (irst of these is the 

 proper settin*; of the hive. Hives must be 

 absolutely level from side to side, and pref- 

 erably level from front to back. The last 

 statement is made on the assumption that 

 the sections rnu parallel to the sides of the 

 hive. 



Unless the hive is level from side to side 

 the combs in the sections will certainly 

 swing to one side, and every section in the 

 super will be imperfect. If not level from 

 back to front there is a tendency to the 

 more perfect finishing of one end of the 

 section. Bees naturally build downward; 

 and if downward is toward one corner rath- 

 er than the bottom of a section, one corner 



I detest set-tion-holdeis, and use free slats 17 inches in length 



will get finished before the other. In hot 

 weather, too, the foundation will be apt to 

 buckle or sag lowaid the lower end of the 

 section. 



] realize thf3 set determination of most 

 beekeepers to slant their hi\es from fron^ 

 to back. Their purpose is good, but their 

 execution is poor. The hive should be level. 

 The bottom-board should furnish tlie slant. 

 Eveiy argument is in favor of the slanting 

 bottom-board. One gi^eat advantage of the 

 slanting bottom-board is tliat the bees have 

 depth beneath the combs at the front, and 

 only a bee-space at the back of the hive. 

 This largely prevents the building of combs 

 beneath the frames. My readers who use 

 that style of bottom-board with two sides, 

 stimmer and winter sides, will appreciate 

 this. The back half of the hive will fre- 

 quently be stuffed with drone comb between 

 the bottom-bars of the frame and the floor 

 of the hive. This difficulty and others are 

 overcome by a bottom-board which has a 

 slanting bottom. 



Next in importance is a big force of bees. 

 A small colony of bees 

 will produce good sec- 

 tion honey when sepa- 

 rators are used, for 

 they cannot build 

 comb beyond the sepa- 

 rator, and so each sec- 

 tion lias its own comb 

 limit. When separa- 

 tors are not used, the 

 bees of a small colony 

 will start on a few 

 sections and will work 

 along building each 

 comb into the space of 

 the nest section. Hence 

 each section is bulged, 

 li^nless one has master- 

 ed the problem of 

 keeping his colonies 

 strong he had better 

 not try to produce 

 honey without separa- 

 tors; or shall I say he 

 had better not try to 

 produce honey at all? 

 When strong, a colony 

 (as soon as the flow 

 starts in) will occupy 

 almost the entire super 



