ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



99 



ing such slow flows the bees are in- 

 clined to croiwd honey into the brood- 

 chamber, rather than into the surplus 

 arrangement. As separators accentu- 

 ate this inclination, I have been for 

 some time endeavoring to eliminate 

 these from our supers, and I have met 

 with a measure of success." 



In this connection, Mr. Sherburne, 

 page 947, August 1st, presents an ar- 

 ticle at once interesting and instruc- 

 tive. Like him, we have learned that 

 the secret of getting cratable honey 

 when no separators are used, lies in 

 hei/Ving most of the sections started 

 upon simultaneously. Comb-honey 

 supers as now constructed, while being 

 the source of frequent complaints, 

 generally allow greater convenience 

 for the man than for the bees. In lo- 

 calities similar to ours, many who 

 started in to produce section honey 

 have gone back to producing bulk 

 comb honey for no other reason. I 

 cannot but realize the great disad- 

 vantage bees labor under in ordinary 

 supers; and another year, notwith- 

 standing preconceived ideas as to how 

 section honey ought to be produced, 

 no separators will toe used in our 

 apiary. That more honey can be se- 

 cured if we dispense with separators, 

 has been demonstrated over and over. 

 When bees do not enter the - sections 

 readily, but crowd the brood-nest with 

 honey, the working condition of the 

 colony is rapidly impaired. For a col- 

 ony to remain populous is impossible 

 under such circumstances. The last 

 season some 2,000 1% Danzenbaker 

 sections, having beeways, were used 

 in our apiary, without separators, and 

 never before did I see so clearly 

 demonstrated the necessity of having 

 supers so arranged as to meet the 

 natural requirements of the bees." 



And again, I wish to repeat, that 

 this is a very strong argument in 

 favor of the T super in the production 

 of comb honey, over that of the sec- 

 tion-holder bottom, but this is still 

 better wihout separators, as equally as 

 good results can be obtained if prop- 

 erly manipulated. 



In conclusion, recurring to the mat- 

 ter of iwhat may be considered the 

 best arrangement for the production 

 of comb honey without separators, I 

 think It safe to say that that known 

 as the Chaff hive, being double walled 

 to the top of the ibrood-chamber, with 

 outside case high enough to Inclose 

 space sufficient to contain two or 



three supers under the cover (mine 

 contains three), with an air-space of 

 1% to 2 inches around the supers in 

 which the bees may cluster, is an 

 ideal arrangement for the production 

 of comb honey without separators, in 

 a climate w^here the temperature is 

 liable to sudden change. It is a com- 

 mon thing for the bees to cover the 

 sides of a set of supers in these hives 

 an inch thick. No fluctuation of tem- 

 perature during the busy season dis- 

 turbs the work in the supers in the 

 least degree. 



The advantage of this arrangement 

 was well illustrated a few years ago, 

 during ah unfavorable season for sur- 

 plus honey. My bees secured quite 

 a crop of honey, while my neighbors, 

 with more colonies, secured little or 

 none at all. Possibly a cushion over 

 the top of supers in single-board hives 

 might be an advantage. But, I repeat, 

 that a hive with an air-space around 

 supers, as described above, with sec- 

 tions thin enough, so that the foun- 

 dation shall be spaced as the bees, left 

 to their own devices, naturally space 

 com'b from; center to center, we have 

 reached th^ ■ Ultima Thule in the mat- 

 ter of arrangement for the production 

 of comb honey without separators. 



WM. M. WHITNEY. 



A Member: I can crate honey 

 produced without separators; but It 

 is not all straight as it would be with 

 separators, and if we must have chaff 

 hives and air-spaces and all that sort 

 of thing, I don't want to try it again. 

 In my opinion, to produce comb honey 

 as the market now requires, with the 

 average bee-keeper, it is impractical. 



Mr. Wheeler: In place of a double 

 side to the hive, I struck on a plan 

 that works nicely for comb honey. 

 I got my . section -holder made for 

 a seven-to-the-foot section. After- 

 wards I w^ent to work to change the 

 size of my section from 1%, and used 

 the same section-iholders, and I filled 

 up the space on each side of the hive — 

 the extra space that was left, I put in 

 a different separator, another separa- 

 tor, so I left a big space on each side 

 of the separator, so that the bees 

 could have the privilege of going up 

 on the side of the hive. Those double 

 separators take the space of one sec- 

 tion, so I eliminated that inside sec- 

 tion that is alwa3^ unfinished, and I 

 find that the bees will go to work and 

 finish it on the outside of the super 



