44 COMB HONEY. 
brood combs, in which case some of the darker wax from the old 
combs is sometimes apparently used for capping the honey. 
During a good honey flow all except the last supers may be left 
upon the hives until all or nearly all of the sections of honey are 
sealed, since (1) there is little trouble from “travel stain’? when 
work is progressing rapidly, (2) all the sections in the super are ready 
to be sealed at about the same time, and (3) when there are several 
supers on each hive the one in which the! honey is being sealed is at 
least one super removed from the brood combs. 
Toward the close of the honey flow all supers having most of their 
sections finished should be removed and the sections sorted. The 
unfinished sections should be graded according to the degree of com- 
pletion, the various grades placed in supers and given to such colonies 
as are most likely to finish them. Every effort should be made at 
this time to contract the surplus apartment, concentrating the work 
upon the sections nearest completion. All supers in which work has 
not yet been started should be removed and as soon as possible the 
surplus apartment of each colony should be reduced to one super. 
Though little room is necessary during the close of the honey flow, 
there should always be some room for the storage of new nectar 
until itis ripened. For such conditions extracting combs are valuable, 
since, instead of giving the last comb-honey super in which little 
work would be done, a set of extracting combs may be placed over 
the sections to afford room for the incoming nectar and comb surface 
for its ripening. 
CARING FOR THE CROP. 
Removing the Honey from the Hives. 
If the honey flow is of considerable duration the major portion of 
the crop is removed before the flow ceases. At this time the removal 
of the finished supers is comparatively easy because the bees can 
readily be driven from them and also because the operator is not 
hindered in his work by robbing bees. At the close of the honey 
flow all the supers remaining upon the hives should be removed 
promptly, since to leave them on would result not only in some of the - 
honey being carried down into the brood chamber but also in badly 
propolized sections. After the honey flow has ceased, great care 
should be exercised to keep bees from robbing. The use of bee- 
escapes (fig. 12) greatly facilitates the removal of the honey at any 
time, but their use is especially desirable in removing the honey 
remaining on the hives at the close of the honey flow. By their use 
the honey may be removed and stored in the honey house with 
little disturbance or excitement among the bees. The supers of 
503 2 
