598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



G. A. Deadraan's stand with 20 supers of wet extracting-combs that have been cleaned up by a colony 

 of bees. The cart is shown ready for the removal of the supers. 



size and nail a lath or strip all around the 

 stand. This is not really necessary, but it 

 prevents any possibility of the supers shift- 

 ing and allowing the bees to gain access 

 from the outside. If they should it might 

 be all up with your colony of bees that are 

 employed in this way. The front entrance 

 can be contracted to possibly two inches, 

 as the bees, having access to so many su- 

 perSjtheir forces are divided. Make the bot- 

 tom of this stand either of matched lumber 

 or well jointed, and that will not shrink. 

 Some 2x4 scantling, or better, 3x4, make 

 good supports to nail the floor to. If only 

 two of these are used (which makes it easier 

 leveling) then place them 8 inches or so 

 from the end of your boards. This will 

 prevent your platform or stand from sag- 

 ging in the center, which it might otherwise 

 do. 



There is a choice between having enough 

 stands to accommodate all supers that are 

 not required for the fall flow, and leave 

 them in there until ready to pack for win- 

 ter, or to have only one, and have one colo- 

 ny do all the cleaning, removing the supers 

 and replacing by others as fast as they are 

 dry. The former plan has these advantages : 

 Your supers are not taking up valuable 

 space in the honey-house, and any danger 

 from moth-worms is obviated. When re- 

 moved late in the season not a bee remains, 

 and the supers are so tightly h?ld together 

 that ^ \iev can be lifted at one tirne, The 



plioto shows four supers in each tier; but 

 we sometimes have five, and o\if frame is 

 two inches deeper than the Langstroth. 



For obvious reasons I select the first 

 colony in any I'ow or rows nearest the hon- 

 ey-house for this job. By this plan combs 

 from diseased colonies can be kept by them- 

 selves, and then any free from pollen I 

 consider safe to use again. I keep the oth- 

 ers frequently for use again in such colo- 

 nies; but that is another story. 



I might say that supers are preferably 

 put on these stands about sunset, or on a 

 rc'.iiiy day. Just as soon as these begin to 

 accumulate in the honey-hcuse we draw them 

 cut, even tho not sufficient to fill a stand, 

 as more can be added any time. If colonies 

 are in pairs one may have to be moved a 

 Jittle to make room for the stand, but the 

 bees soon find their location. 



FINISHING PAKTLY FILLED SECTIONS. 



Thos3 who have had any experience in 

 the production of comb honey know too well 

 that it is verv difficult to have every section 

 completed, or sufficiently so as to make 

 them all salable. Apart from those that 

 may be sold as second cla.=s, there will be 

 others that are not, tho possibly coming 

 very near it, while there are others again 

 that can only be extracted. We used to 

 extract them by inserting half a dozen in 

 frames made for the purpose. Not so now, 

 however. Those that require only a little 



