COMB -HONEY. 45 
honey should of course be taken directly to the honey house or kept 
well covered ! from robbers. 
Before finally storing the supers of honey in the honey room those 
that are but partly filled may have their sections removed and 
sorted. The unfinished sections that can not be disposed of at a 
profit locally are usually put back into supers and the honey they con- 
tain is fed to the bees. This feeding is done by simply exposing the 
supers where the flying bees can have access to them. If there are 
few supers compared with the number of colonies they should be 
placed:in piles and only a small entrance allowed, since if free access 
were given to a large number of bees they would tear the combs to 
pieces. When the bees have finished removing the honey from these 
unfinished sections the latter may be stored for future use as ‘‘bait’’ 
sections. 
Care of Comb Honey. 
In the honey room the supers of honey should be placed in piles 
in such a manner as to allow a free circulation of air between them. 
This may be done by ‘‘sticking them up” as lumber is piled to dry 
or by placing alternate supers crosswise. The air in the honey room 
should be kept as dry as possible. This is usually accomplished by 
means of a high temperature, the honey room being located on the 
sunny side of the building or directly under the roof. The windows 
should be opened only during dry weather. Ventilation of the honey 
room is of no value except when the air that is admitted contains 
less moisture than that already present. Otherwise ventilation may 
be a positive detriment. If a protracted period of rainy or damp 
weather should occur while the honey is in this storage it may be 
necessary to use artificial heat to dry the air in the honey room. 
Any great variation in temperature should be avoided, since it may 
cause a condensation of moisture on the surface of the cappings which 
will be absorbed by the honey. 
Some beekeepers find it necessary to fumigate comb honey to 
prevent damage by the larve of the wax moth. For this purpose 
sulphur fumes or bisulphid of carbon may be used. If bisulphid of 
carbon is used, great care should be taken not to bring it near a flame, 
as it is highly inflammable. 
Scraping Propolis from Sections. 
Before being packed for market the sections of honey should be 
removed from the supers and the wood scraped free of propolis. A 
1 Honey from out-apiaries should be loaded for transportation in such a manner that the bees can not 
get at it, then before the horse is hitched to the wagon the load of honey should be drawn by hand some 
distance from the apiary if the slope of the ground will permit doing so. If this is not possible the horse may 
be attached by means of a long rope and the load drawn to a safe distance before the horse is hitched to 
- the wagon. 
508 
