<li-roiii:i: lOjo 



»1 I. K \ \ 1 \ (! S I \ I'. K K (■ I' I. T n R E 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



witli inch .starters in the sections, put a 

 bottom Ixiard i-losi' to tho side of the liive 

 on whieh 1 i)ileti, four high, the supers 

 of unlinislieil seetions and closed tlie en- 

 tranee to the super from tlio outside. Tlien 

 I took a pieee of 2x4 scantling as long 

 as the width «>f the two hives, liollowed 

 out a groove on one side after the fashion 

 of the Alexamier feeder, and put it under 

 the back end of hive and supers so the 

 bees could pass freely back and fortli be- 

 tween the hive and the supers. 



For a short time the bees went for the 

 unfinished sections like robbers, but as soon 

 as they found they had it all to themselves 

 they co(ded down and refused to uncap 

 anything that \vas capped over. I took 

 away two of the supers so I could get at 

 the other two and uncapped the cells 

 and took out the sections as they were 

 emptied and put in others, all tlie time 

 watching the super above the colony to see 

 tliat the bees had room to store the honey. 

 In tiiat Avay I forced about 100 pounds of 

 nice, clear honey on to them, but it took 

 a month to do it. By that time the nights 

 were getting too cool for comb-building. 



When I took off the super I had some 

 niori' uniinished sections — about 20 pounds 

 of honey in a o2-section super. What the 

 liees di(l with about SO pounds of that fed- 

 back honey I will never tell you. 



The jdan looks so good in theory that I 

 may try it again, but in practice it was a 

 f;iilure. 



If I try it again I would use unfinished 

 sections .above the colony, but in that case 

 we would get patched-up and unsightly 

 sections. 



O.-ikland. 111. William Cox. 



* * * 



( Hejdy to William Cox i 

 I am not at ;i]l surprised that Mr. Cox 

 failed in \vli;it lie tried to do. bill I ;iiii 



surprised that he should blame the Dead- 

 man plan for his failure. He says that if 

 he tries it again he will use unfinished 

 sections. Well, that is exactly what Mr. 

 iJeadman says to do in the instructions 

 which he gives in Gleanings for July 15, 191H. 

 He also says in this connection that "sec- 

 tions that are capped or i)artly capped, but 

 very thin, should be uncapped. Otherwise 

 the bees m.ay build over the cappings, or 

 back of them, making an irregular sur- 

 face." If those instructions are followed 

 the "patched-up and unsightly sections," 

 to which Mr. Cox refers, will be avoided. 

 Mr. Cox failed because he used starters in 

 the supers above the colony. And he also 

 failed in liaving the unfinished sections 

 cleaned up, which he placed on the Dead- 

 man board by the side or back of the col- 

 ony, because he did not follow instructions 

 in that regard. In the article above refer- 

 red to, Mr. Deadman plainly says that one 

 should first uncap any sections that may 

 be capped. But I especially recommend 

 this plan to those who are producing ex- 

 tracted honey. First, because it does not 

 stir up the whole apiary, as when distribut- 

 ing the wet combs among all the colonies. 

 Again, one can leave the combs with the 

 "clean-up" colonies until late in the fall 

 and thus have them protected from moths 

 until it is time to store them away in the 

 honey-house. And last, but not least, it 

 will lessen the danger of the spread of 

 foul brood thruout the apiary in case a 

 colony has brought in infected honey from 

 a neighboring apiary. Now I am very sure 

 that if Mr. Cox will carefully follow Mr. 

 r)eadman 's instruf-tions he will not say that 

 the plan "in practice was ;i failure." 

 Minneapolis, .Minn. Clias. D. I^.Iaker. 



W i-«oii»iii l,ifki-<-lM i-.s at their C'li.iiitaii.|u;i lield ,it M:iili.-~ciii, \\f^. I(;j0, I'fjii. Tlu' Id;: l.'iit slinwii rii 

 the rear of thi.s (.'ripiip servcil iis ihc :isAi'inM.\ hull Thi.s t'hiiiitiiii(|iiii iirovd ;i greiit ^slI(•(■ess. 



