1032 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



than a thousand pounds of honey in half an 

 hour! Then he adds, "The writer holds an 

 actual record of 1140 pounds of honey re- 

 moved in exactly 28 minutes. ' ' I figure that 

 to be just a fraction under 41 pounds per 

 minute. No, thanks; I do not care to have 

 any one slamming around among my pets 

 like that. 



In the August 1st issue, page 650, Mrs. 

 Allen comments in this manner: 



Mr. Scholl says, page 471, "It is possible 

 to take off more than a thousand pounds of 

 honey in half an hour. ' ' My marginal com- 

 ment, in the light of our own recent experi- 

 ences, reads merely "Whew;" May I re- 

 peat it here "Whe — ew! " 



Let me explain that we are just as careful 

 about "slamming around among my pets" 



Scholl's method of taking off honey in a hurry 



as is friend Chadwick, and that the trick of 

 taking off the quantities of honey does not 

 harm the bees in the least. The truth of 

 the matter is that, when a hive is a^Dproaeh- 

 ed and the cover raised, the bees are simply 

 told by the " smoke language " to move 

 down and out of the finished super or 

 supers that are to come off that hive. Then 

 the cover is removed entirely, throAvn on the 

 groifnd in front of the hive, and more smoke 

 is blown over the top of the open super. 

 A^Hiile the bees are making their way down, 

 the next hive is treated in the same manner, 

 then another, until we have four or five 

 hives open and the bees going down. Rapid- 

 ly returning to the first hive we smoke them 

 all again in the same rotation. Next we 

 set down the smoker, and, with hive-tool in 

 hand, pry lose and 

 lift off quickly the 

 topmost super from 

 each of the four or 

 five open hives. Grasp- 

 ing the smoker again 

 we go over the smok- 

 i n g operation with 

 each hive that has 

 more honey to come 

 off, in a rapid manner. 

 Thus the supers are 

 rapidly freed of the 

 bees and removed from 

 the hives. 



The illustration giv- 

 en herewith shows the 

 manner in which the 

 foregoing is done. The 

 few remaining bees, 

 still in some of the 

 supers, will find their 

 way out and back to 

 the hive from which 

 they came by the time 

 the supers are loaded 

 on the wagon or truck, 

 or they are shaken or 

 "jostled " out of su- 

 pers not entirely free 

 of them by gently 

 " jouncing " the lower 

 part of the supers 

 against some object. 

 All of this is done so 

 quickly, and yet in so 

 gentle a manner, that 

 there is no room for 

 argument on the sub- 

 ject of " slamming 

 around." 



New Braunfels, Tex. 



