Pabllsbed Weekly, at 91.00 per anaum. 



Sample Copy sent on Application, 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 16, 1896. 



No. 16. 



No. 2. — Producing Comb Honey in Michigan. 



BV W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 

 (Continued from page 211.) 



As the honey season comes on, every available cell will be 

 filled with brood, pollen or honey, and little spurs of white 

 comb will appear here and there along the top-bars, or in any 

 space or inequality into which they can be crowded. The cells 

 along next the top-bars will be whitened by the plastering on 

 of little bits of new wax. Some of the stronger colonies may 

 begin " hanging out," as nothing will crowd bees out of the 

 hives quicker than a honey-flow. All these things show that 

 the time is at hand for putting on the sections. 



It the flow should open very suddenly, or, at least, become 

 very profuse soon after it opens, sheets of foundation in the 

 sections may be as good as drawn combs, but when It comes 

 on gradually, drawn combs, or, at least, a few sections of such 

 in each super as " bait," as it is called, are a decided advan- 

 tage. If I could have my choice, however, I would be glad to 

 have all of the sections in the first super filled with drawn, or 

 partly-drawn, combs. I have seen seasons in which I was well 

 satisfied that a case of partly-drawn sections of comb to give 

 a colony at first meant just cmc more case of finished honey. A 

 colony given a case of combs would have those combs filled 

 and be commenced upon a second case of sections by the time 

 that a colony given simply foundation had made a start. This 

 difference is more noticeable with Italians than with blacks. 

 The Italians cling to the brood-nest until actually forced out 

 of it. If a bee hatches and the queen doesn't stand ready to 

 put in an egg, it is quite likely to be filled with honey. Give 

 such a colony a case of sections filled with partly-drawn 

 combs, and the bees will store honey in the combs just about 

 as readily as in the combs below — a long time before they will 

 draw out foundation in the sections. Combs in the sections 

 relieve the pressure upon the brood-nest. More brood is the 

 result. Yes, and it starts the bees to storing above the brood- 

 nest, and having made a start they are sure to continue it. 

 Considering the value of drawn combs for this purpose, I 

 should not try, to any great extent, to restrict the number of 

 unfinished sections at the end of the season. 



In this connection there is another point worth consider- 

 ing, viz.: that the bees will store more honey in the supers if 

 they are not crowded too much. The sections may not be 

 filled so plumply and solidly as when there is some crowding, 

 but there will be more honey in the aggregate. Probably as 

 much finished honey as though crowding were resorted to, 

 while the number of unfished sections will be augmented. 



Two courses are open by which these unfinished sections 

 may be used to advantage. One is that of "feeding back" 

 extracted honey to secure their completion, and the other 

 that of using them in the spring as just now indicated. In 

 the latter case they must be extracted in the fall and the bees 



allowed to clean them up. After this they must be kept away 

 from the dirt and dust. I prefer to "feed back " and secure 

 the completion of all sections that are at least one-half com- 

 pleted. Those less than one-half finished I would extract and 

 keep over to use in the spring. When combs that are nearly 

 completed are kept over and used again, they will not have 

 the smooth, new look of those just built, or of those that were 

 not more than half completed the previous season. The rem- 

 edy is to use the comb-leveler invented by B. Taylor. This 

 very quickly and satisfactorily reduces the length of the cells 

 to the required depth, which results in a smooth surface when 

 the comb is finished. 



The tiering-up method, by means of which a whole case of 

 sections can be handled at once, is the only one suitable to the 

 requirements of modern bee-culture. Handling sections, put- 

 ting them on and taking them off one at a time, or first put- 

 ting them at the side of the brood-nest, and then later " hist- 

 ing" them on top, is too much work. I would not leave on a 

 case of sections until every section was finished, but until 

 most of them were, then when a lot of such cases have been 

 stacked up in the honey-house, sort over the sections and use 

 the one or two unfinished sections that may be found In each 

 corner of the case in making up a few new cases of sections 

 that will be nearly finished. These are given back to the 

 bees to be completed. 



All, of course, understand "tiering up." When the first 

 case of sections is one-half or two-thirds completed, it is raised 

 up and another case placed between that and the hive. When 

 the case last added has reached the same stage as the first had 

 reached when raised up, both are raised and another placed 

 next the hive. By the time that a third case should be added 

 the top case is usually ready to come off. If it is not, and it 

 seems necessary to add another case, I would take off the 

 upper case, bees and all, and give it to some colony having not 

 more than two cases. I have never found it profitable to tier 

 cases more than three high. The bees seem disinclined to 

 work so far from the brood-nest. 



While shade may be dispensed with when the hives are 

 painted white, and stand in an airy location, I think it better 

 to have shade. The bees will not be driven out of the supers 

 on hot days if shade is used, and the inclination to swarm is 

 lessened. A board two by three feet in size, one edge placed 

 even with the north side of the hive, makes the best shade 

 with which I am acquainted. Shade-boards may be made very 

 cheaply from cull shingles, by nailing the thick ends to the 

 side of a piece of board four inches wide and two feet long. 

 Some use stones or bricks to keep these boards in place. This 

 may be all right for an out-apiary, but at the home-apiary 

 that is almost cousantly in sight, I would prefer to pick up 

 the boards and put them back the few times that they may 

 blow off during the season, to lifting stone twice every time a 

 hive is opened. 



In the earlier days of bee-keeping we often heard the ex- 

 pression : "With a swarm goes all hope of surplus." The 

 swarm was hived in a full-sized hive and set off on a new 

 stand, and the result was that the harvest was over by the 

 time the hive was full and the bees ready to enter the supers. 

 Only from an early swarm could surplus be expected. The 

 old colony swarmed at least once or twice more, and, of 

 course, stored no more surplus. Now a swarm is hived upon 

 the old stand, and in some instances the brood-nest is con- 

 tracted to such an extent as to force the bees into the sections 

 which are set over from the old to the new hive. I would con- 

 tract the brood-nest when hiving swarms that are expected to 



