FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 201 



honey harvest is usually still in full blast, and a good many 

 colonies in the apiary will have " go-backs," each colony having 

 only one, that being placed on top of its other supers. We keep 

 veateh to see which colonies make the best work on " go-backs." 

 Some seal faster than others, some seal sections with extra 

 whiteness. In order to help keep track of the rate of progress, 

 each " go-back," at the time it is put on, has marked on one of 

 the middle sections the word " go-back " and the date. If the 

 super were not thus marked, the colony would get more credit 

 than it deserved when the super was removed. 



A little later in the season the number of colonies chosen 

 for this work is limited, only those which do the best being 

 continued at it, and these are not allowed to have any other 

 supers. Generally two supers at a time will be enough for a 

 colony to have; but sometimes three will be given. As fast as 

 one super is ready to come off another takes its place. 



ROBBER-CLOTH. 



Before fulfilling my promise to describe the tent-escape. 

 I must describe a robber-cloth (Fig. 75), which forms an essen- 

 tial part of the tent-escape. I take a piece of stout cotton cloth 

 (sheeting) or burlap large enough to cover a hive and hang 

 down four inches or more at both sides and at each end. This 

 must be weighted down at the side with lath, and for this pur- 

 pose I take four pieces of lath about as long as the hive. I lay 

 down one piece of lath with another piece on it, and one edge 

 of the cloth between the two pieces of lath. I then nail the two 

 together and clinch the nails. I use the other two pieces of lath 

 for the opposite edge of the cloth. This makes a good robber- 

 cloth just as it is, but it is better to have the ends also weighted 

 down, especially on a windy day. For this purpose I make a 

 hem in each end, and put in it shot, nails, pebbles, or something 

 of the kind, stitching across the hem here and there so the 

 weighting material will not all run together at one side or the 

 other. 



QUICK COVERING WITH ROBBER-CLOTH. 



In any ease where one wants to cover up a hive quickly 

 against robbers, as when opening and closing the same hive 



