established;- I ae I 



'the OLDEST BEE-PAPER -AMER 



"P'oiblislied We&lcly, at ^I.OO per annxun. 



Sample Copy sent on ^pplicaffon. 



J 36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 30, 1896. 



No. 31. 



A Method of Producing Comb Honey. 



BY J. A. GOLDEN. 



Men of ]ons experience have from time to time been writ- 

 ing of the different methods of the production of comb honey, 

 and thus much valuable knowledge is gained by those . who 

 read the bee-papers and practice the valuable suggestions 

 given. However, there are thousands, perhaps, who yet claim 

 boastingly that they know more than the bee-papers teach, 

 and still persist in thumping the old tin pans and ringing the 

 old preserved cowbell of a hundred years ago. My topic, 

 then, will be how and what method I practice in the produc- 

 tion of comb honey. 



I use both 8 and 10 frame hives in the method, preferring 

 the 10-frame, from the fact I secure two well-filled outside 

 frames of capped honey from each colony, at the commence- 

 ment of the honey-flow, which is stored away and returned to 

 each colony for spring stores, or for winter stores, as the case 

 demands, thus giving the queen eight frames or combs for 

 brood-rearing instead of six with the S-frame hive, as every 

 one knows the more bees one has in a colony, numerically, 

 when the flow comes on, the more honey is sure to be the 

 result. 



My first object, which is very essential, is to have my bees 

 strong in numbers, so that they will cast a swarm when the 

 flow comes, or soon after, and it is supposed that every locality 

 is well understood by the apiarist occupying the same, as to 

 the time of the flow. 



Second, all supers and sections have been prepared and 

 stored for immediate use when wanted, and all hives num- 

 bered in the diary, that queens are to bef superseded during 

 the season. Having our plans well studied for the season, we 

 are ready to handle our work. 



To fully illustrate my method, I present herewith a pict- 

 ure of one double super, with full instructions how it Is con- 

 structed and manipulated. 



Cleats -'a thick are nailed across each end on the side of a 

 hive-body, then a board of thin lumber nailed on flush with 

 the bottom of the side of the body, and extending ^£ inch 

 above, with strips nailed on top of the end boards of the body, 

 which makes the ends flush with the outside rim or body ; 

 thus a bee-space is maintained above, also a bee-space from 



the super to the outlet entrance, or vice versa, as shown at 1 

 in the illustration. 



Single supers are the same. A strip of tin is folded the 

 same as the tin rests for brood-combs, and nailed at the bot- 

 tom for the inset slats to rest on. The brood body is the 

 same, excepting the tin rests and a strip of wood is placed 

 under the ends of the brood-frames, bringing the frames flush 

 with the sides of the hife proper. Thus the bee-space is 

 maintained throughout. 



No. 2 is a section of comb leveled and covered on both 

 sides with wire-cloth, containing numerous enlarged holes, so 

 as to admit worker-bees to and from the section or cage. 



The cleats on the bottom-board are tacked so that only 

 the outside rim will rest on the cleats, giving a bee-space to 

 the outlet from top to bottom. (See No. 1 In the picture.) 



To Manipulate : — A colony casts a swarm, the clipped 

 queen is picked up and put into the wire-cloth covered cage 



The Double Super for Comb Honey. 



(see No. 2), having a small wire loop atone corner, and hung 

 on a small hook in the end of a pole, the cluster is jarred from 

 their position, and the caged queen is quickly held near where 

 the cluster was displaced, and the bees will cluster on the cage 

 containing the queen. 



