48 The Townsend Bee Book 
It is of vital importance to know the location well, so as to be 
able to tell very nearly when to expect he main surplus flow to 
begin and to close, for in no other way can comb honey be pro- 
duced intelligently. If the beginner does not know his location it 
would be well to visit and ‘‘ pump ’’ some old ‘‘ vet ’’ in the busi- 
ness. 
PUTTING ON THE SUPERS 
A very good rule is to put on the sections when the first bees 
are seen on clover; then when they have worked three, or, perhaps, 
four weeks they can not be expected to work much more. In a 
basswood location, if the trees should appear full of blossoms, and 
the weather is suitable for the bees to gather honey, the honey-flow 
may be lengthened out a few days. With favorable conditions 
basswood is the freest yielder we have in Michigan; but since it 
happens that these conditions are rarely right we do not put much 
dependence on basswood, especially as it is being cut so fast for 
lumber. 
I use, and advise that beginners use, full sheets of extra thin 
foundation in the sections, and I think that these sections should 
be built between separators. To do this it is absolutely necessary 
to know the location in order to tell when the main flow begins, 
and thus get the sections on at this time. 
When the season is over—that is, a week after the flow stops 
—and the bees are through capping their white honey, every super 
should be removed from the hive, no matter whether full or not. 
If there is a fall flow, the supers should be put on again when this 
commences, but not before. Many leave their partly filled supers 
(left over from the white honey-flow) on the hive during the 
dearth of honey between the white-honey flow and the buckwheat 
flow. During this time the bees tear out a great share of the 
unused foundation in the sections. This is the worst time of the 
year for the bees to propolize, and this and the mutilated founda- 
tion leave the sections in anything but a desirable condition for 
the buckwheat flow. 
TAKING OFF SUPERS 
This is the kind of honey we have to compete against when 
we ship our honey to market. If only the people who produce this 
stuff were hurt there would be less reason to complain; but every 
one who produces honey for sale is affected; one has only to look 
at the honey quotations to see how things are going, for the quota- 
tions usually read, ‘‘ Market overstocked with low-grade honey.” 
