THOUSAND ANSWERS 211 



ceed. The way you speak of will work, for if you brush the bees 

 off close to the hive or several rods away, they will find their way 

 home again, unless there be some bees on the section so young 

 that they have never left the hive — a thing not likely to happen. 

 Another way is to pile up several supers in a pile, bee-tight at 

 the bottom, and over the top spread a sheet or other covering 

 that is bee-tight, but will let the light through. From time to 

 time lift off the sheet and let the bees that are above escape, and 

 in the course of a few hours all ought to be out. Whatever way 

 you do, it is well to smoke down a good part of the bees before 

 removing the super; but don't be too lavish with your smoke or 

 the honey will taste of it, and smoke doesn't improve honey as 

 much as it does ham. 



Sections Unfinished. — Q. What causes bees to leave a few sec- 

 tions of honey uncapped in the central part of a super all filled 

 with honey; plenty of bees and warm weather? 



A. There's a difference in nectar, some of it being ripened up 

 more slowly than the majority. It is just possible that when the 

 bees commenced work in the supers, the central sections were 

 ftlled with nectar of this kind, or with honey that possibly for 

 some other reason they were slow about sealing, and then the 

 rest of the super was filled with honey of a character to be 

 promptly sealed. Another possibility is that the central sections 

 were in some way objectionable, possibly from having foundation 

 or comb that had been used before and left too long in the care 

 of the bees when not being filled, and so covered to some extent 

 with propolis. Still another possibility is that there was brood 

 in the central sections; then, after the brood hatched out they 

 were filled with honey which, of course, would be later in being 

 sealed. Another possibility is that this was drone-comb and the 

 bees left it without honey for a long time in the hope the queen 

 would find it and lay eggs in it. 



Q. If I use your plan of taking off honey, taking the filled 

 and capped sections, are the unfinished ones returned to the same 

 hive and in place of the ones taken out new sections put in, or 

 do you fill this super with other partly-filled sections taken from 

 another hive? 



A. The unfinished sections from different hives are assem- 

 bled into one super, and then this super is put back, possibly on a 

 hive from which none of the unfinished ones were taken, no at- 

 tention being given to where the sections came from. 



