OCTOBER 15, 19U 



133 



have teen brought up in the one or two localities 

 where maple syrup is produced are very fond of that 

 flavor because they were used to it in childhood. 

 Those who are accustomed to the flavor of clover 

 honey, of basswood honey, or of alfalfa, continue to 

 like those flavors. A really good table honey, like 

 clover, basswood, or alfalfa, or even mountain sage, 

 will create its own demand. In other words, the 

 consuming public does not have to be educated to 

 like them. It is a case of love at first sight. — Ed.] 



Should Foundation in Sections be Placed with the 

 Parallel Sides of the Cells Horizontal or Vertical ? 



I should like to make a few remarks in vecard to 

 the cover picture of the July 1st issue. There is a 

 fault in all foundation that is made for oblong or 

 deep sections which should be remedied. It should 

 hang from the top of the section the way it comes 

 from the mill, not crosswise. Notice the waves on 

 every section. There would be none of these if foun- 

 dation were hung the other way. There would also 

 be less sag. 



Then, too, foundation would not drop so easily 

 when hauled over the road. But the most important 

 point is that the honey has a much nicer appearance. 

 Just compare two sections, one of each way, and see. 

 Who put Nos. 10, 12, 13, 15, and 16 upside down 

 when they took the picture ? Notice the reverse 

 position of the curves. 



I have used 800 supers with wire fences and bee- 

 way sections for three seasons, and the per cent of 

 burr-combs is small. 



East Syracuse, N. Y., Sept. 20. F. W. Lesser. 



[Some years ago we made a series of experiments 

 with the comb foundation in sections, placed both 

 ways — that is, a part of the sections contained start- 

 ers in which two parallel sides of the cells were ver- 

 tical and the rest of the sections contained founda- 

 tion having two parallel sides horizontal. At the 

 time, we could see very little difference in regard to 

 the amount of sag. Furthermore, beekeepers dis- 

 agree in their opinions in regard to the matter. 

 Some cut their starters one way of the sheet, and 

 others the other way. Before going further we 

 should add at this point that natural comb is usually 

 built with two parallel sides of the cell vertical, but 

 occasionally the bees build the comb the other way. 



It is practically impossible to make a foundation- 

 mill with the cells cut in such a way that two paral- 

 lel walls of the cell ^\ill be parallel to the long edge 

 of the sheet as it runs through the mill. In other 

 words, two parallel sides must be crosswise of the 

 sheet as it runs through the mill — that is, parallel 

 with the rolls of the mill. When making brood foun- 

 dation it is customary to have the sheet of wax as 

 wide as the brood-frame is deep, and then after run- 

 ning through the mill the wax is cut into lengths 

 corresponding to the length of the brood-frames or a 

 little less. With this manner of cutting, two parallel 

 walls of the cells are vertical, corresponding to most 

 natural-built comb. The super foundation, on the 

 other hand, while run through the mill in the same 

 way, is almost always cut just the opposite ; that is, 

 with two parallel sides of the cells horizontal. The 

 reason for this is that it is more convenient to cut it 

 in this way, although, of course, the beekeeper may 

 cut it the other way if he prefers. The foundation 

 in the sections shown in the cover picture of the July 

 1st issue happened to have been cut with two paral- 

 lel sides vertical, as in case of brood foundation, 

 whereas the customary plan is to have foundation 

 cut the other way, which is in accordance with our 

 correspondent's idea, if we understand him correctly. 

 We formerly cut starters for oblong sections with 

 two parallel sides vertical, the same as shown in the 

 cover picture referred to; but something over a year 

 ago we began cutting starters for the oblong sections 

 the other way, .iust as in the case of square sections. 



In this connection we should like to inquire wheth- 



er any one else has done any experimenting along 

 this line — that is, with foundation hanging both 

 ways in sections. If so, we should like to hear the 

 results. To be conclusive, the tests should be made 

 under like circumstances and conditions so far as 

 possible. 



Our correspondent has an observing eye. The 

 sections shown in the cover picture of the July 1st 

 issue were piled up on the table. On account of the 

 fact that they were not quite square a few of them 

 had to be turned upside down to make the rows 

 straight. This accounts for Nos. 10, 12, 13, 15, and 

 16 being upside down. 



We are glad to have the good report of wire 

 fences. Mr. Vernon Burt has secured some of the 

 nicest comb honey this year that we have ever seen, 

 •n-ith this same sort of equipment. Apparently the 

 danger of bees attaching the combs to the wire is not 

 as great as was first feared. — Ed.] 



Should Supers Containing Brood be Removed in 

 the Fall ? 



Last spring I purchased four colonies of bees. 

 Colony No. 1 filled two supers with fine white-clover 

 honey : but the last super they have filled with brood 

 and young bees. Shall I leave the super on throucli 

 the winter or not ? If left on, what will be the result 

 next spring? Do you advise using two brood-cham 

 bers for strong colonies ? Colonies 2, 3, and 4 have 

 the supers about half full of honey, and the brood 

 chamber full of brond and honey. If I remove the 

 supers, will the brood-chamber have enough supplies 

 to carry the bees through the winter ? or will it be 

 best to leave the supers with honey in them on 

 through the winter? I am using Langstroth ten 

 frame hives. When the frames in the brood-chamber 

 have honey and young bees, can the frames be put 

 in an extractor and the honey be extracted without 

 injury to the young brood, and then replace the 

 frames to give more room for the queen to lay eggs ? 



Port Gibson, Miss., Sept. 8. B. F. MiNXis. 



[It would be questionable practice to attempt to 

 remove this super containing brood, at this time 

 as you will seriously weaken the colony and take 

 away young bees which you will need next spring 

 to keep up the strength of the colony. Under the 

 circumstances the colony may be wintered in the 

 story-and-a-half brood-chamber. While the weather is 

 still fairly warm, perhaps it would be well to locate 

 this super on the bottom-board and put the full-depth 

 brood-chamber on top. Some time in the early spring, 

 before the queen has started very much brood, you 

 can remove this super from under the brood-cham- 

 ber, thus getting the queen and bees on one set of 

 brood-combs again. 



We can hardly say from the description you give 

 whether the brood-combs will contain enough honey. 

 About the only way is to make an examination to see 

 that all combs contain some honey ; and the outside 

 combs should be nearly solid with honey, perhaps 

 two combs on each side. If there is not this much in 

 the hive, feed a thick syrup in October, made by 

 mixing two parts of granulated sugar to one of water 

 until there are enough stores. 



You can extract honey from combs containing 

 sealed brood : but if there is any young unsealed 

 brood this will all be thrown out with the honey. 

 Therefore no attempt should be made to extract from 

 combs containing unsealed brood. — Ed.] 



Shipping Extracted Honey by Parce! Post 



I have just read Dr. Moody's article, Sept. 15, 

 p. 653, and should like to mention a few facts per- 

 taining thereto. I am a clerk in the parcel-post 

 department of the Cincinnati postoffice, also a bee- 

 keeper on a limited scale (having but 14 colonies), 

 and am naturally in a position to observe a great 

 many things as regards shipping the endless variety 



