THOUSAND ANSWERS 57 



Comb Honey. — Q. How much honey can one expect from a 

 colony during a good season, provided no increase is made? 



A. The amount varies greatly; from nothing to 300 pounds or 

 more. Dr. E. F. Phillips estimates the average at 25 to 30 sec- 

 tions per colony. That, of course, takes good seasons with bad. 

 If you take good seasons alone, it might be twice as much. 



Q. What is the best way to handle bees in regard to room 

 between the white honey-flow in June and July, and the buck- 

 wheat flow in August? My bees are then too strong to occupy an 

 ordinary hive-body, and. if given new sections they destroy the 

 foundation and spoil the sections. 



A. I don't like to get into a quarrel with you, but I am hardly 

 ready to accept your statement that your bees are too strong to 

 occupy an ordinary hive-body, and at the same time destroy 

 foundation sections. Not but what that is true, too, but I don't 

 agree with your evident belief that the bees need more super- 

 room. If they tear down the foundation in sections, they are not 

 gathering anything more than they need for their daily use, and 

 so need no super-room. 



"Can't stay in the brood-chamber?" "Let 'em stay out, then. 

 Won't hurt 'em a bit to cluster outside the hive till it is time to 

 put on sections for the buckwheat ; this on the supposition that you 

 want the buckwheat stored in sections. Another way is to give 

 them a second story. If you haven't any extra combs to put in 

 second stories, one or two combs in each story will be enough, so 

 long as they are storing nothing, and you need not be troubled 

 with the thought of the empty space in the upper story. 



Q. How can I bleach comb-honey? I got about 2,400 sections 

 last year, and it was hard to sell it on account of its darkness. I 

 see a process for bleaching it in "A, B, C of Bee Culture," but do 

 you know of any better way? All the honey that is coming into 

 the market is whiter than mine, and I cannot account for it. If 

 you know of a way to whiten honey, please let me know. 



A. No; I can give no better way. It's one of the cases where 

 prevention is better than cure, and I try to manage so there shall 

 be as few darkened sections as possible. There are two reasons 

 for sections being darkened outside — being too long on the hive, 

 and being too near old, dark combs. If a super of sections be 

 left on the hive until every section is completely sealed, the cen- 

 tral sections are very likely to be darkened. So don't wait for 

 the sealing of all the sections, but take off the super when all but 

 a few of the outside ones are sealed. Perhaps the four corner 

 sections will not be finished, perhaps four on each side. Then 



