38 



found in half a dozen apiaries there more section honey than in all of the 

 districts he visited put together. 



Another obstacle in the way of raising section honey, one that holds 

 good everywhere, is the breaking of the direct communication in the up- 

 ward passage-ways between the combs. We know that in an 8-frame hive 

 there are eight combs, but in the section super for such a hive there are 

 only six rows of sections. The result is that when the bees in their upward 

 journey reach the top of the frames in the brood-chamber they must change 

 direction horizontally across the top of the frames, then turn upward, mak- 

 ing their way through small entrances into the section boxes. Seemingly 

 they dislike the tortuous windings and prefer to swarm rather than to 

 wrestle with such complications. 



On the other hand the beekeeper whose ambitions are limited to a little 

 honey for family use does not want to invest nearly twenty dollars in buy- 

 ing an extractor. The problem before the inspectors has been to reconcile 

 the conflicting conditions, that is to say, to secure the honey in the comb 

 and at the same time preserve for the bees direct communication between 

 the brood-chamber of the hive and the super. The solution will probably 

 be found in the production of "chunk" honey, that is to say honey raised in 

 frames, not in the ordinary section boxes. For this form of honey produc- 

 tion a shallow extracting super, less than six inches deep, is used in which 

 are placed shallow frames a little over five inches in depth. The combs in 

 these frames are about 17 inches long and 4 inches wide, which is not 

 ordinarily a marketable size, but "chunks" cut from one E.S needed are all 



Fig. 8. Homeward bound. 



