278 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



over a colony of bees, and an hour later, if the bees are 

 active, they are taken from the hive as good as new. 



The rest of the sections that do not go into one of 

 these three piles are merchantable sections. That makes 

 four kinds into which Philo sorts them, and you will see 

 that it is possible out of one super to take sections that 

 will go into all four of the piles. Of course there is al- 

 ways standing a super ready for any odd sections of each 

 kind, that is, a super for dry sections, another for "feed- 

 ers," etc. 



FIRST PART OF CLEANING SECTIONS. 



Having now told how Philo sorts the sections, let 

 me further tell what he does with them. WTien he 

 comes to a super that does not go entire to the first or the 

 second pile, the sections are taken out in the manner de- 

 scribed on previous pages, leaving the contents of the 

 super upside down on a board. The T tins are lifted 

 ofif, and any sections that are not marketable are picked 

 ofif and their places supplied with those that are market- 

 able. Then the super that was taken from them is re- 

 placed by a box without top or bottom, that is, it is much 

 like the super, only it is perhaps an inch longer, an inch 

 wider, and an inch shallower than a T super, the exact 

 size not being important. A piece of board is wedged 

 into one side, and another into one end, so as to hold the 

 sections firmly in place (Fig. 98). A case-knife with 

 the whole length of its edge held at right angles to the 

 sections sweeps back and forth, and when this has made 

 the surface fairly clean, Xo. 2 sandpaper is used. A cab- 

 inet-maker's scraper is better than a case-knife while it is 

 sharp, but is harder to keep sharp. Then a board similar 

 to the one under the sections is laid on top, and with one 

 hand under the under board and the other over the upper 

 board he turns the whole upside down, the super resting 

 on one end on the table as he turns it over. The knife 

 and sandpaper now do their work on the tops of the sec- 

 tions. Then the wedges are taken out. the box removed, 



