Sept. 6, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



to a considerable depth, which means 

 that much more to scrape off ; and 

 after the scraping is done an ugly 

 stain is left. The cut shows how the 

 tins keep the sections apart : 



In my locality the sections must be 

 protected all around or the unprotected 

 parts get badly travel-stained, and 

 sometimes quite dark. The flow is 

 seldom heavy here, except occasionally 

 for only a few days at a time. Usually 

 there are interruptions between the 

 different sources of surplus. The re- 

 sult is that the sections are often on the 

 hives several weeks before being full 

 and capped. Add to this the disadvan- 

 tage of a locality furnishing plenty 

 of propolis, and it is easy to see the 

 necessity of keeping off the propolis 

 from the sections as much as possible. 

 In localities where the honey-flow is 

 heavy the case is altogether different ; 

 the sections do not stay long enough on 

 the hives to get badly travel-stained, 

 or daubed all over with propolis. In 

 such cases the T-supers are as good as 

 the best. 



As I make my own hives I am not 

 compelled to use the standard sizes, 

 and for convenience I make the supers 

 a fraction over 17 inches long — just the 

 length to accommodate 4 sections. 



Before going further, let me tell you 

 the story of the case. Why did the 

 Root people adopt a super too long for 

 4 sections, and of course entirely too 

 short for 5 ? 



When A. I. Root invented or adopted 

 the present sections the modern supers 

 were not in use yet. The surplus 

 apartment was another hive-body con- 

 taining frames like those of the main 

 body. A. I. Root adopted a section of 

 such size that 8 of them filled a frame, 

 as shown here in the figure : 



When the modern super was in- 

 vented the size of the hive-body could 

 not be changed because there were 

 already too many in use. Evidently 

 the supers must be of the same length 

 as the hive-body. The size of the sec- 

 tions might have been changed with 

 less inconvenience, but still not with- 

 out some disadvantages. 



Making my own hives I adopted at 

 once the supers just long enough for 4 

 sections, and of course the hive-body 

 or brood-chamber the same length, and 

 the frames of the proper length to fit it. 



This figure shows the arrangement 

 I use, or, rather, that I prefer, for I 



fc 223 *STR,PJO, 



Pi ON HATi 



V* 



SUPEfi 

 WALL 



have other kinds on hand also, but I 

 will eventually replace them. Once 

 the arguments advanced in favor of 

 the standard Langstroth frames de- 



cided me to construct several hives of 

 that kind, but I soon was sorry that I 

 did, and I am sorry yet. 



There are several advantages in 

 using strips both below and above. In 

 the first place, the sections are pro- 

 tected all around against propolis and 

 travel-stains. Another feature needs 

 a longer explanation : Suppose a super 

 has strips under the sections but none 

 above. In my locality, with a slow 

 honey-flow, it is impossible to prevent 

 entirely the building of burr-combs be- 

 tween the frames and the supers. Sup- 

 pose we put on a second super and 

 want it under the first. We lift the 

 first, the burr-combs break off, and 

 leave the pieces attached under the 

 strips of the super. We place the new 

 super on the brood-nest, and then the 

 old super on top of it. It is impossi- 

 ble to scrape the burr-combs absolutely 

 clean from the wood. And the least 

 remains of it induce the bees to rebuild 

 a burr-comb between the strips and the 

 sections below. And when next time 

 we lift the top super said burr-comb 

 will pull off the top of the section, or, 

 if it does not, it will give us some 

 cleaning to do. 



With strips both above and below 

 such trouble does not occur. It is not 

 even necessary to clean the strip. A 

 burr-comb between the 2 supers will 

 not spoil the sections. If it does not 

 break off it will pull up the top strip of 

 the lower super without damaging the 

 sections. The following cut will show 

 at once how this happens : 



Fences. 



The first question that might be 

 raised here is whether separators 

 should be used at all or not. So many 

 conditions contribute to influence the 

 surplus obtained by any colony that it 

 is almost impossible to tell whether 

 such or such other thing has given 

 better results or not. As far as I can 

 guess at, I think that more can be ob- 

 tained without separators, but how 

 much I don't know. I think that un- 

 der favorable circumstances, such as a 

 heavy flow, very strong colonies, etc., 

 the difference is perhaps hardly notice- 

 able, but that under adverse circum- 

 stances it may amount to a good deal. 



When separators are not used the 4 

 bee-way sections should be used. They 



v^ 



V 



v 



± 



give better communication in all direc- 

 tions, and they are more regularly 

 filled than the 2 bee-way, the inside 

 openings inducing the bees to build 

 the combs more regularly. The chief 

 objection to these sections is that un- 



less very carefully handled the corners 

 are apt to gouge into the other sections. 

 The cut shows how it " happens." 



To me the chief advantage of using 

 the fences is that I can use plain sec- 

 tions with them. So far as the " sep- 

 arating " is concerned, I doubt whether 

 they are any better than the other 

 kinds. 



Plain Sections. 



The plain sections are decidedly the 

 best. They look better ; the honey 

 coming almost level with the edges of 

 the section makes it look well filled, or, 

 as we say in the South, " plump full." 

 Side by side an ordinary section looks 

 as if not completely full, or, as James 

 Heddon used to say, " lean ;" while the 

 plain section looks "fat." 



It is claimed that the corners are 

 filled better, owing to the fact that the 

 bees can reach them more easily. I 

 don't know to what extent that is true. 

 To have well-filled sections it is nec- 

 essary to put in full sheets of founda- 

 tion nearly touching the wood all 

 around, or better, fasten the founda- 

 tion to the wood all around with melted 

 wax. 



Those who use melted wax for the 

 first time are sure to put on entirely 

 too much. With a Van Deusen tube, 

 or spoon that I described in another 

 contribution, and a little practise, but 

 very little wax is used. Perhaps a 

 drop at each corner would be enough, 

 but I have not tried it. 



The strips above and below the sec- 

 tions are very simple and cheap affairs 

 when using plain sections. Get from 

 any wood-working shop long strips 

 ripped out of 1,'i-inch stuff and cut 

 them yourself of proper length, and 

 there you are. With bee-way sections 

 it would be necessary to have escal- 

 loped strips, rather costly, and which 

 might not always fit the sections as 

 closely as desirable. 



The plain sections thus protected 

 need but very little cleaning, only on 

 the faces. One scraping more on each 

 side with a joiner's scraper is about all 

 that is needed : 



Packing Honey. 



I sell in the home market. The best 

 package I found is a common lard-can. 

 It costs 25 cents, and can be returned 

 and used almost indefinitely. If the 

 grocer keeps them he pays 20 cents 

 each. That is the price at which he 

 resells them to farmers for packing 

 lard. In selling chunk or extracted 

 honey, the can is usually weighed with 

 the honey, and the whole paid at the 

 price agreed on. In that case I get 

 sometimes a few cents more for the 

 can than I paid for it. 



The packing is easily done. Two or 

 3 thicknesses of paper are placed at 

 the bottom of the can, then a layer of 

 sections, as shown in the cut. The 



