THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



171 



When our helpers begin cleaning sec- 

 tions from either section-holders or T- 

 supers, a loud protest is heard, to be fol- 

 lowed with expressions of relief when 

 they again come to sections from the wide 

 frame supers. It is evident, from letters 

 appearing in some of the journals, that 

 many bee-keepers have no conception of 

 the appearance of a properly cleaned sec- 

 tion. We do not clean them so thoroughly 

 as some, yet we are not satisfied to rub 

 them over wire screen, or with any other 

 method that only begins the work of 

 scraping. We remove all stain from out- 

 side surfaces and all edges. With the 

 wide frame, the propolis and stain are 

 confined to a line around the edges where 

 it is most easily removed. 



So long as there is no other cheap and 

 easy way to prepare our honey for mar- 

 ket, the wide frame super will be supreme. 

 When we find how to hide the stain on 

 the sections, the wide-frame suoer will be 

 a back-number. 



We use both the tin and the wood sep- 

 arators, and it would be difficult to say 

 which is preferable. Each has its good 

 points. After an extensive test, extend- 

 ing over several years, we have discarded 

 the fence-separators and plain sections, 

 as inferior to the older styles. The solemn 

 truth, for our localities and our markets, 

 is that we get less honey in the new- 

 fangled sections and supers, it is not so 

 uniformly salable, and it does not sell for 

 so much money. We keep a few of the 

 fence-supers in use for the benefit of our 

 helpers, but we have to be satisfied to 

 take 25c. per case less for the honey in 

 4x5 sections than for the old, standard, 

 4'4x4'4xlj4 sections. In our comb 

 honey yards we use the Hofi^man frame. 

 We might prefer staple-spaced frames, as 

 more easily handled, but for the fact that 

 it may be expedient, some seasons, to 

 produce some extracted honey in a comb- 

 honey yard, when the staples would in- 

 terfere with rapid uncapping. We con- 

 sider the "Alpaugh" spacing method and 

 device well worth a trial. 



At the lower corners of all of our frames 



we insist on a staple projecting '4 inch. 

 These prevent the frames from becoming 

 far out of square, add considerably to the 

 ease and safety of manipulation, and are 

 used by Coggshall, Hill, Somerford and 

 others. 



Our covers are largely of the "Acme" 

 type, telescoping the hive or super al- 

 most two inches, with an air space above 

 quilt or inner cover. Covers of this type 

 are used by E. W. Alexander, R. C. Aikin, 

 F. Greiner and many other extensive pro- 

 ducers. 



In locating the yards, besides the best 

 possible pasturage, we want the best 

 available wind-break as of almost equal 

 importance, even in this favored section, 

 with its phenomenally low wind velocity. 



We arrange our colonies in pairs, on 

 double stands, each pair, (if yard-room 

 will permit) several feet from the next; 

 rows facing away from each other where 

 "the lay of the land" will allow, so that a 

 wheel-barrow may pass along the rows at 

 the rear of the hives, giving the operator 

 easy access to the back end and one side 

 of each hive. 



We expect to examine the colonies in 

 April, although no harm is done if the 

 colonies are not disturbed until May, ex- 

 cept that there is then a possibility of 

 work piling up on us faster than is prof- 

 itable. At this examination we aim to 

 clip each queen's wing, if not already 

 clipped, recording her age with the Alex- 

 ander tin tags, on the front end of the hive. 



Some equalizing of stores is done, and 

 drone-comb supplied to a few colonies of 

 choicest stock, usually largely Carniolan 

 blood. 



Most of the colonies have passed the 

 winter in one-story hives — a few in two- 

 story hives. In May. if the season be fav- 

 orable, some of the single-story colonies 

 will become crowded, so we inspect each 

 colony at least twice in May, adding an 

 upper story cont-.iining eight worker- 

 combs to each strong colony. If we are 

 in doubt if any particular colony will 

 need more room we either give some of 

 its brood to a colony not quite so strong, 



