THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



America, and it is thought that the discovery and 

 description has hardly begun. 



With modern appliances the management of our 

 honey bees is not difficult. The head is covered 

 with a broad shield, and the hands with gloves that 

 are tied about the wrist. A little smoke of punky 

 wood is puffed into the hive, and the supers that 

 are filled with honey are easily removed. Swarms 

 are gathered and hived with the same protection. 

 In all cases promptness and decision are necessary, 

 without nervous movements. The Falconer hive 

 is one of the best, as it allows of the easy removal of 

 the filled supers. When these are removed, others 

 should be placed in their stead at once. My im- 

 pression is that, with ordinary care, the amount of 

 honey taken from twenty swarms in a single year 

 will hardly exceed five hundred pounds — it should 

 certainly reach that point. A portion of this will 

 be brown or yellow honey, and not marketable. 

 Very little of it will be unsuitable for home con- 

 sumption. As freezing weather approaches, cush- 

 ions of dry leaves or chopped straw are placed in 

 the tops of the hives, and the bees winter on their 

 out-of-door stands quite safely. In the spring it 

 is often necessary to feed the weaker hives. This 



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