42 



BEES FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 



Packing Sections. 



Sections to be sent by rail require careful packing to prevent 

 their getting broken. The best kind of crate to send them in 

 is the one shown in fig. 27, which has glass at the back and 

 front ; the honey is thus plainly visible, and is likely to receive 

 careful handling. All sections should have the propolis scraped 

 off the wood before being packed for the market. 



Many ornamental cases are now made to hold single sec- 

 tions, some of cardboard and others of enamelled tin with glass 

 in front, while a very simple one is constructed much on the 



Fig. 27. —Travelling Crate for Sections. 



same plan as the American sections, being V-grooved and fold- 

 ing close round the section, with a groove running all round 

 each side, in which the glass is slipped. These cases greatly 

 add to the attractiveness of the sections, while they also exclude 

 dust and insects. 



Strong Stocks Indispensable. 



To produce comb honey it is quite indispensable to have 

 strong stocks — stocks which are literally boiling over with bees 

 at the commencement of the honey flow. 



If, as is sometimes the case, the tyro has a number of weak 

 stocks after the winter, and wishes to obtain comb honey, it 

 will be necessary to unite two or three of them together. This 

 is best done towards the end of March on some nice warm day 

 when the bees are flying. The hives to be united should first 

 of all be placed side by side ; so if they are some di.>tance apart, 

 they must be moved a foot or two — not more — nearer together 

 on each day that the bees are flying freely : they must on no 

 account be moved on days when the bees are not flying, as, in 

 that case, the bees would be out of reckoning as to the position 



