66 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



the most marketable shape; leaving: the brood nest so free from 

 honey that no extracting- is needed when the time comes for feeding- 

 sugar for winter stores. Those who for any reason do not wish to 

 use sugar, may still take advantage of this system by putting the 

 unfinished sections back on the hives in time for the honey to be 

 carried down and stored in the brood nest for winter. Or a case of 

 brood combs may be put on over the sections as the harvest draws 

 to a close, instead of putting on another case of sections. This will 

 do away with nearly all unfinished sections, and the case of filled 

 brood combs can be given the colony at the end of the season in 

 place of its empty combs. By either plan, the number of finished 

 sections is increased. 



The greatest objection to this plan is that it cannot be depended 

 upon to produce all perfect brood combs. I think I am safe in say- 

 ing that I have had thousands of combs built under this manage- 

 ment, and I think that at least eighty per cent, of them were as per- 

 fect as it would be possible to secure by the use of full sheets of 

 foundation. A much larger percentage was perfect when I was 

 using mostly the Langstroth frame, and contracted the brood nest 

 to only five frames. This made the top of the brood nest, where the 

 bees commence their combs, so small that the swarm completely 

 covered it. All of the combs were thus commenced at the same 

 time. As a rule, they were nearly as perfect as possible, at least so 

 far as straightness was concerned. When I came to using the 

 Heddon hive more extensively, I discovered that the greater surface 

 at the top allowed room for the starting of more combs, that the out- 

 side combs would not always be started so soon as the center ones, 

 and this sometimes resulted in the bulging of some of the combs. 



Sometimes drone comb will be built in spite of contracted brood 

 nests. Usually this is the result of old ijueens. But then, we can't 

 always have young queens, hence I can only repeat that this method 

 gives excellent results in the way of surplus, but cannot be depended 

 upon to always furnish perfect brood combs. Some keep watch of 

 the brood combs while they are being built, cutting out crooked, 

 bulged or drone comb, and using it in the sections. I can not think 

 favorably of such work. When I hive a swarm, I wish that to be the 

 end of the matter. No opening of brood nests, and puttering with 

 imperfect combs, during the hurly burly of swarming-time, would 

 be desirable for me. But I do think favorablj? of contracting the 

 brood nests when hiving swarms, then uniting colonies at the end of 

 the season, culling out the imperfect combs and rendering them into 

 wax. I think all such combs are built at a profit. 



