1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



39 



just as far advanced in the first supers as 

 any other part. In the second supers that 

 are added, the more unfinished sections or 

 baits the better, placed at the ends and 

 sides. The third and fourth supers added 

 are placed above the others, or underneath, 

 depending on the honey-flow; but the loca- 

 tion of the baits in the supers is not 

 changed. 



We would not think of putting a whole 

 frame of honey in the center of the super, 

 because we would not want such frame to 

 receive brood; so if we use such frames from 

 below for baits we put them at the sides of 

 the super. In the same way we should not 

 risk sections with drawn comb in the cen- 

 ter. Then by locating the baits at the ends 

 and sides, more bees are drawn from below, 

 so that the crowded condition of the hive is 

 relieved at just the right time, and swarm- 

 ing more likely prevented. At the time I 

 put on the first super I put one-inch blocks 

 under the hives, so that the bees are checked 

 in their desire to swarm, in two ways. 



By the above plan, general excitement is 

 induced all over the super; and when all the 

 sections are being drawn out, and honey 

 found sparkling in all about the same time, 

 there is no uncertainty as to when to put 

 the next super underneath. There is no 

 need of worrying about the middle of the 

 super, for it will develop with the rest, — 

 but no faster. If 1 can get bees in 4 and 6, 

 and in 22 and 24, 1 find that the end sections 

 are filled also. 



In supers started with the baits in the cen- 

 ter, the work must gradually spread to both 

 ends; and as there is no inducement for the 

 bees tu build clear to the ends, they com- 

 mence to cap a few sections in the center 

 and swarm. On the other hand, if they 

 start at both ends, with the baits, the desire 

 to "close the gap" causes more excitement 

 and heat, and the bees seem to forget to 

 swarm, as there is no clustering out, and 

 very few bees on the frames of brood. Su- 

 pers with baits in the centers alone show a 

 small cluster of bees on the fronts <>f the 

 hives for days, and the colonies fiequently 

 swarm before the ends of the supers are 

 reached. 



But the worst objection to the center baits 

 is that the queen will fill the combs, and 

 little grains of pollen will be scattered all 

 over. Then the bee-moth will locate in 

 that super as soon as possible, whether the 

 super is on the hi\e or in the store. A few 

 years ago I had to take a drayload of supers 

 from the store to the honey-house and fumi- 

 gate the whole lot simply because the baits 

 had bten in the center. The farmers near 

 by do not use excluders. 



I use sectional hives, and keep the top 

 section as solid with brood as possible. The 

 baits that I use are, as near as I can get 

 them, like the last two in the upper row of 

 the engraving shown on page 262 of the 

 1908 edition of the ABC and X Y Z of Bee 

 Culture, and 266 of the 1910 edition. Near- 

 ly all of them contain some honey. I have 

 about two hundred of these unfinished sec- 



tions this season, and wish I had more. I 

 took 1080 4X5 sections from seven old colo- 

 nies, and have about 1500 sections in all. 

 Two of the colonies gave 189 sections each, 

 which is not bad. I surely must have 

 placed some of the baits where they did 

 some good. 



Last season I tried three colonies with baits 

 placed as follows: In the first super put on I 

 had the baits in the center at 11, 14, and 17. 

 These were all drone comb. In the second 

 super the baits were at 10, 15, 11, 14, 12, and 

 13, and these were partly drone and partly 

 worker comb. In the third super the baits 

 were at 11, 7, 9, 15, and 13, and these were 

 all worker comb. About twelve sections of 

 these baits contained more or less brood, j 



Bradshaw, Neb. 



HONEY-STRAINERS DONE AWAY WITH. 



A Strong Endorsement of the Settling-tank Meth- 

 od of Clarifying Honey. 



BY H. F. STRANG. 



A discussion of settling-tanks and strain- 

 ers has been asked for by the editor; and as 

 I have been a user of the settling-tank meth- 

 od for about eight years, it may be that my 

 experience will be interesting. 



I have owned bees for about thirty-five 

 years, but never had much to do with ex- 

 tractedhoney production until about eight 

 years ago, when W. Z. Hutchinson began 

 to advocate so strongly the keeping of 

 "more bees." At that time I had been sick 

 for six or seven years; but my health was 

 getting so that I could work a little, and I 

 ran an apiary in Southern Michigan on 

 shares. While the owner was a good comb- 

 honey man, his extracting-outtit was many 

 years behind the times; and I laugh to my- 

 self sometimes yet when I think of the dif- 

 ficulties I worked under the first fall. The 

 extractor was old style, and we had to stop 

 it and lake the frames out to turn them 

 around; but the fun came in when we strain- 

 ed the honey. We had a barrel to strain 

 into with a framework made to set on top, 

 in which to hang the strainer; and by the 

 time we poured in the third pail of honey 

 the strainer was usually so covered with 

 cappings and specks of wax that the honey 

 would not run through it except by constant 

 stirring with a long-handled spoon. Be- 

 tween putting in about half the time stir- 

 ring and the other half washing out the 

 strainer, our extracting did not progress 

 very fast. 



It has been said that all discoveries are by 

 accident or chance. My discovery of the 

 settling-tank was by the merest accident. 

 My better half used to help me in the ex- 

 tracting; but once in a while I would become 

 so disgusted and use such language that she 

 would leave me to do my own stirring and 

 washing. One afternron, when she had 

 gone back to the house and left me to my 

 own devices, I dn w oflf into 60-lb. cans near- 

 ly all the honey that we had stirred through 



