78 DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



It is well, in very hot weather, in our latitude, to avoid 

 leaving those unoccupied supers on the hives during the hot 

 part of the day, as the heat might cause the combs to break 

 down, the bees being no longer there to ventilate and lower the 

 temperature of the super. 



If the crop is still on, no precautions need be taken in return- 

 ing the supers to the colonies. In fact, it is necessary that they 

 be returned as promptly as possible, for the bees are idle mean- 

 while, if the brood chamber is full. So we make due haste in 

 returning them as fast as emptied of their honey. We saw, 

 during an excellent honey harvest, supers that had been emptied 

 two days before again supplied with fresh honey in every cell. 

 Such harvests are rare, however. 



If we have a number of spare supers, we save some trouble 

 by making an exchange, putting on the empty supers as fast 

 as the full ones are removed. Very often, however, in a bountiful 

 harvest, all spare supers have been given to the bees before 

 extracting began. A half dozen, sometimes, are retained from 

 the first colonies harvested, to exchange for full supers as we go 

 along. 



If the season is at end, we pile all the supers, as fast as 

 emptied of their honey, in the honey house until evening. A 

 short time before sunset, those supers are returned quickly, 

 everybody helping, to the colonies from which they were taken. 

 This prevents the excitement of their return from lasting long 

 enough to cause robbing, since night prevents further hustling 

 on the part of the excited bees. When morning comes again, 

 everything is quiet. 



If the honey is not well ripened, we use honey tanks to 

 store it. But as we have numerous outapiaries and the honey 

 might not be safe in tanks away from the home yard, we use 

 alcohol barrels of good quality and thoroughly dry, to contain 

 the crop. These are emptied at leisure, in vessels of different 

 capacity, as occasion requires. 



It is sometimes necessary to haul the supers to the home 

 apiary or central plant, to do the extracting. The writer does 

 not like this method as well as that of local extracting. Yet it 



