124 DR. miller's 



beekeepers take comb honey from time to time as fast as each 

 super is finished and sealed, or nearly so. In that case most of 

 it is taken during the season that bees are busy at work, and it is 

 better to operate while most of the gatherers are abroad in the 

 field, and not so early in the morning or late in the evening. If, 

 however, bee-escapes are used, they are put on toward the after 

 part of the day, and the honey taken before the middle of the 

 next day. 



Much the same thing may be said about taking extracted 

 honey, although some of our best practitioners do not take their 

 extracted until the close of the season for each kind of honey. 

 Of course, it is also true that the last of the comb honey is taken 

 at the close of the flow. At such times there may be some gain 

 by getting at work pretty early in the day, before robbers are 

 much on the wing. Those who are in the business extensively do 

 not pay much attention to the time of day, but work away any 

 time of day, or the whole day, just as suits their convenience. 



(b) The usual way to kill bees is with the fumes of burning 

 sulphur. But if each of those colonies is too small to be worth 

 saving you may be able to make one fair colony out of the two. 

 Or, you could add each one to some colony that would be the 

 better to be a little stronger. Nowadays it is not usually consid- 

 ered good practice to kill bees. 



(c) There are various ways of getting bees out of surplus 

 honey. Some use the Porter bee-escape. Some drive part of the 

 bees out with smoke then pile up the supers on the ground and 

 set a Miller escape on top of each pile. Some simply brush them 

 off the extracting-combs. For a small quantity you can put the 

 honey in a large box, put a sheet over it, and turn the sheet over 

 from time to time as the bees collect on it. 



Q. I have several supers of fine honey all capped over and fin- 

 ished. Would you advise me to take it off and put it in a well- 

 ventilated room, or leave it in the hive? If the latter, how long? 



A. Take it off as soon as finished. The honey will be as good 

 or better if left on longer, but the comb will become dark. Keep 

 it in a dry, warm place. 



Honey, Keeping. — Q. Can honey from this year be kept till 

 next year without spoiling? 



A. Yes, there is no trouble in keeping extracted honey over, 

 and even comb honey may be kept in a dry, warm place. 



Q. In reply to the question when to take off supers, you say, 



