'898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



193 



to state that the statutes of Canada, 

 when any such syrup reaches the su- 

 pers and it is offered for sale, make 

 such practice a willful adulteration 

 and the government at its own charges 

 will do the prosecuting. 



It is no digression to state that per- 

 fect wintering is a mighty factor in the 

 production of comb honey. 



It is not enough to bring ninety-five 

 or even one hundred per cent, of our 

 stocks through the winter alive. We 

 should see to it that they are practi- 

 cally in the same condition thai they 

 were at the approach of winter, with 

 plenty of stores, healthy and strong, 

 and able to rush out and catch the 

 first and every honey flow coming 

 within reach. And then the spring 

 management must be such that the 

 brood chamber at the time of giving 

 section supers is practically full of 

 brood from side to side and from front 

 to rear. 



Briefly, then, to this and brood- 

 spreading, timely and judiciously, with 

 some uncapping, must be practiced. 



And now for the better way: When 

 the spring flow sets in sharply, in order 

 to leave the whole brood chamber to 

 the queen and to provide against the 

 practice of feeding sugar syrup, ex- 

 tracting supers must be given. These 

 with their contents are left on to keep 

 up brood rearing until clover yields 

 freely. These supers are then removed 

 and comb honey supers take their 

 place. Generally at this time, if the 

 work has been well done, the brood 

 chamber will be practically full of 

 brood, which will be of far greater 

 value than sugar syrup and it costs 

 nothing and your comb honey will be 

 pure and your reputation unsullied. 



With this management neither bait 

 combs, half supers nor double brood 

 chamber will be wanted. The bees will 

 go up for standing room and go to 

 work with a right good will. 



I must not forget to state that at the 

 time of changing supers the coml)S 



containing the most and youngest 

 brood should be placed next the side of 

 the brood chamber. This will make 

 more room for the queen, retard 

 swarming and force the honey into the 

 sections; then when swarms do issue 

 their numerical strength will gladden 

 your weary hearts and cause you to re- 

 joice in hope of a rich reward. 



T'he large entrance has become an 

 indispensable necessity in my practice. 

 For that purpose I use the wedges so 

 often referred to, and the dividers for 

 creating a double bee space at the out- 

 side of the section is also indispensable. 

 The former distribute the bees and the 

 latter hold them just where wanted, so 

 much so sometimes the outside and 

 rear sections actually get ahead of 

 those near the entrance, but that is not 

 the rule. 



The habit of the young bees meeting 

 the field bees above the entrance near 

 the centre is so strong that a cluster is 

 sometimes formed and the field bees 

 continue to go up at the centre, but a 

 little cool weather will usually break 

 that up and a proper distribution will 

 follow. Hive swarms on starters, in 

 hives contracted to about two-thirds of 

 their size by the use of dummies, let 

 them remain upon the old stands, and 

 at once transfer the supers to the new 

 swai-ms. A queen bar or excluder must 

 be used; give shade and a lot of top 

 Ventilation, which should be closed 

 the fourth or fifth day in the cool of 

 the evening. We may yet learn how to 

 continue top ventilation with profit. 



What seems to me to be the most 

 diflicult thing is to give the right 

 amount of super room. I would say, be 

 careful to give enough and be just as 

 careful not to give too much. But what 

 is enough and what's too much, how 

 should we know? Well, I reckon from 

 existing conditions and prospects. 

 Years of careful observation will guide 

 us pretty well. 



Want of spacp forbids giving many 

 useful pointers. My experience with 



