SUPERS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 115 



material ; the two latter mattering little to the Bees, but 

 much to the commercial value of the honey, whether it 

 is stored in a clean tempting receptacle, or a dirty box. 

 A very strong stock in a favourable season will fill one 

 holding 80 or 100 pounds, and it exhibits the skill of the 

 Bee-master to supply the maximum size that the Bees 

 will fill with sealed comb, as a half-filled super looks 

 very bad. 



It is questionable if our Scotch neighbours, who work 

 with the Stewarton hives, are not the wisest ; they being 

 content to obtain a number of small full boxes rather 

 than attempt one large one, which will very likely prove 

 a failure as to completeness. 



All supers should be supplied with bottom-boards 

 of their own, to be removed with the super ; they need 

 only be made of the thinnest material. Admission from 

 the hive should be given by two narrow slits, correspond- 

 ing to similar slits in the crown-board ; these are prefer- 

 able to a central hole, through which the Queen is apt 

 to stray and spoil the contents of the super by breeding 

 therein. Care must be taken to furnish the interior with 

 clean decoy comb or wax sheets, also to well wrap up the 

 super with some warm material, such as felt, flannel, &c,, 

 as the Bees will mostly reject a cold unfurnished apart- 

 ment. Whatever supers (except bell glasses) are used, it 

 is advisable that they be furnished with bars or frames for 

 convenience in removing the honey, otherwise in cutting 

 the combs out much damage and waste are incurred. 

 When using bell-glasses for supers it becomes necessary 

 to furnish the Bees with some kind of ladder by which 

 they can reach the top, for they cannot readily run up 

 the glass sides ; a piece of clean empty comb is best, but 

 many persons use a small clean piece of wood, generally 

 shaped as a cross. Bees are more reluctant to fill glasses 



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