SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 59 



spring, when poplar-trees or your first honey-plants begin to bloom, put on 

 one super; but if it is a very warm spring, and bees begin to lie out on the 

 outside for lack of room put on one super about two weeks previous to the 

 bloom'ing of the first honey-plants, for they should not be allowed to get in the 

 habit of lying around on the outside. When the honey-plant is in its height 

 of blooming, raise the cover on the strongest colonies and see what progress 

 has been made ; and take that, the force of the colony, the weather conditions, 

 and honey-plants under consideration ; and if these seem favorable, give them 

 another super on top ; if not, examine them again in three or four days, and 

 add a super if things look favorable. If, during this time, the weather is very 

 warm and the temperature in the hives seems to be very high, raise them up 

 and put a piece of section under each corner. Watch the progress of the 

 bees closely ; and if they need more sections give them more ; but don't disturb 

 them any more than you can help, for it hinders them in their work. If time 

 permits, remove the supers which have all the sections well filled and capped 

 over. At the close of the flow, when the bees begin to cap the unfinished 

 sections, remove all supers as soon as possible so as not to give the bees 

 time to cap them, and they will be in the best condition for them to finish 

 during the next flow ; but- if they are capped over they are spoiled for their 

 purpose unless they are uncapped. 



All sections should be removed from the supers, and scraped until they 

 look as nearly like new ones as you can get them ; then the marketable ones 

 should be packed in standard shipping cases (for if they should get mashed 

 up on the railroad you could get damages; otherwise you could not), and 

 put on the market, and the unfinished ones should be packed away for the 

 next flow. If the' flow which is to follow is usually heavy, use the unfinished 

 section as baits in the supers of .sections, dividing them equally. If the 

 flow is usually light, just let the bees finish them, giving them to the 

 strongest colonies. , 



At the end of the last flow all supers should be removed and treated as 

 you did those at the previous flow ; then should you have unfinished sections, 

 extract the honey from them or leave them in supers and set them out and 

 let the bees remove the honey ; but should they begin to tear down the comb, 

 stack them up and leave an opening so only a few bees can pass at a time, 

 and save the sections thus cleared of honey for baits next spring, to be used 

 in the supers given to the bees. 



THE PRODUCTION OF CHUNK HONEY. 

 In operating an apiary for chunk honey the bees should be built up to the 

 highest possible honey-gathering condition just as we would expect to have 

 them in producing comb honey in sections, then supers containing shallow 

 frames of the same dimensions as those used in the brood-department, only 

 about. half as deep, and their top-bar thin. These shallow frames should be 



