250 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



nectar season, an average quality 

 of finished sections may be expect- 

 ed. 



A few suggestions are liere offer- 

 ed. No section sliould be used 

 which would require more than a 

 few passes at the contact edges to 

 make it clean and of inviting ap- 

 pearance. When a starter falls 

 down after the work has begun, it 

 fchould be pried out of place and a 

 new one inserted, the operator be- 

 ing careful to scrape the wax from 

 the separators, if attached on either 

 side, lest the bees attach the new 

 section to the separator at the same 

 place which they are apt to do if 

 any wax is left there. Whether you 

 use section holders or slatted supers 

 the sections should be even over 

 the top surface and wedged tightly 

 to keep them in position; so tight- 

 ly in fact that the super can be 

 inverted without a sound of fric- 

 tion or motion. 



For nice even work all the bee 

 ways must correspond each to each 

 with the separators neither high 

 or low, for when the flow is on 

 and the bees crowded for room, 

 they will build deeper cells where 

 The separator margin leaves room, 

 making a jog in the capping sur- 

 face, spoiling the desired smooth 

 appearance. Separators or fences if 

 carefully cleaned and placed will 

 tend toward a greater number of 

 filled sections for less weight can 

 be stored in a given space while 

 the surplus will be carried on to 

 fill sections elsewhere. 



Some bee-keepers leave the filled 

 supers on the hive until three or 

 four have acumulated, placing the 

 new sections underneath. We pre- 

 fer removing, if two are filled and 

 as much oftener as convenience in 

 hauling in will allow. We pile the 

 filled supers evenly and a paper 

 under-neath to catch any drip 

 both before and after cleaning if 

 any is stacked away in supers before 

 trading and casing. Careful handl- 

 ing of filled sections from the hive 

 to the shipping case is an absolute 

 necessity for otherwise handled will 

 daub and stain the sections to a 

 great degree. 



Most bee-keepers whom I have 

 known, have their grading bench 

 in front of a series of windows so 

 where the grading is done, the 

 light falls upon the grades face 

 while the sections on the bench 



reflect only the light of the room. 

 Before beginning to grade, place 

 your bench so you can stand be- 

 tween it and the window and grade 

 with your back to the light. You 

 can then grade the near face of 

 the sections at a glance and catch 

 the opposite side as you pass them 

 toward the case, handling the lot 

 as fast as you can pick them 

 up. Place doubtful weight sections 

 on your grading scales. See that 

 the glass is clean before Inserting 

 the sections. 



Palmetto and Mangrove Honey 



At the present writing (June 

 10th) the saw palmetto, in the 

 neighborhood of Central Florida on 

 a line drawn east and west, is 

 about over blooming, and the man- 

 grove buds are about to begin 

 blossoming. The palmetto has 

 bloomed unusually full this year, 

 but the dry weather of the month 

 of May and even earlier, has caus- 

 ed the blossoming racemes to dry 

 up much earlier than usual. The 

 bees worked fairly well on it but 

 there will not be a heavy crop 

 from that source this year. On the 

 coast, the forest fires this spring 

 were much more severe than usual, 

 as a result the young palmetto was 

 damaged for large areas to such 

 an extent that no blossoms will 

 appear, or if any do show before 

 opening, needless to say no nectar 

 in such blossoms. When it yields 

 well the saw (or scrub) palmetto 

 is a source of honey unrivaled in 

 color, body or flavor, by any honey 

 in the world. — E. G. B. 



The reports to date, June 17th 

 nearly all appear to be favorable 

 for a good crop of honey. Bees 

 came through the winter in better 

 shape than usual and up to date 

 honey secretion seems to be good 

 as far as reported. Here in Mich- 

 igan the season has been on for 

 about ten days. Clover yields well 

 when the weather will permit the 

 bees to fly. The first three days of 

 the flow was very hot and the 

 bees did fine, then three days of 

 cold raw winds, almost too bad for 

 the bees to fly, saying nothing 

 of workirg on clover. It is now 

 gradually warming up and the pros- 

 pects are some better for honey 

 gathering weather. 



