110 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



When the first case of sections placed on the hive at the begin- 

 ning of the harvest is partly finished, it is raised, and another case 

 placed between that and the hive. At w^hat stage of completion the 

 sections should be when a second case is added depends upon how 

 crowded the bees are and the rate at which honey is coming in. I 

 usually add another super when the sections in the one next the hive 

 are from one-half to two-thirds completed. I have not found it prof- 

 itable to tier up sections more than three supers in height. As a 

 rule, the upper super is ready for removal before it is necessary to 

 add a fourth. If it is not, and honey is coming in rapidly, I would 

 transfer it, bees and all, to some other colony having a less number 

 of cases, rather than tier up four cases high. With any system in 

 which the sections are finished in close proximity to the brood nest, 

 their removal is necessary soon after completion, to prevent their 

 being soiled or "travel-stained," by the bees passing over them 

 directly from the brood nest; but, with the tiering-up system, the 

 finished combs are so far from the brood nest that they remain un- 

 sullied until a whole case can be removed at once. During a regular 

 "honey-shower," such as we have sometimes, when the nectar all but 

 drips from the fragrant, golden blossoms of the linden, I have seen 

 a colony draw out the foundation in 28 sections, and fill them full of 

 honey (and here is where I believe foundation is very valuable) in 

 less than three days, yet scarcely a cell would be sealed. To give 

 the bees a-nother super next the hive is the work of only a moment. 

 At such times it may be advisable to remove the upper case, after 

 they have been tiered up three high, even if there are one or two 

 unfinished sections in each corner; and, when crating, have an empty 

 super at hand in which to put the unfinished sections, and when it is 

 full place it on a hive. 



When a super is ready to come off, there is no easier, less 

 troublesome, method of freeing it from bees than by the use of a 

 Porter bee-escape, which consists of a tin frame-work or box inside 

 of which are two delicate brass springs so nicely adjusted that a bee 

 can easily squeeze out between their points, but cannot return. 

 Openings in the upper and lower sides of the box allow the bees to 

 pass through. The escape is fastened into an opening cut in the 

 center of a thin board the size of the top of the hive, a -J8 rim around 

 its edge holding the super bee-space above the board. To use the 

 escape, simply raise the upper super, lay the escape-board upon 

 the top of the next lower super, replace the removed super upon the 

 top of the escape-board, and the work is done, so far as the bee- 

 keeper is concerned. The bees, finding themselves shut off from 

 the rest of the hive, become excited and make frantic efforts to 



