THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
America, and it is thought that the discovery and 
description has hardly begun. 
With modern appliances the management of our 
honey bees is not difficult. The head is covered 
with a broad shield, and the hands with gloves that 
are tied about the wrist. A little smoke of punky 
wood is puffed into the hive, and the supers that 
are filled with honey are easily removed. Swarms 
are gathered and hived with the same protection. 
In all cases promptness and decision are necessary, 
without nervous movements. The Falconer hive 
is one of the best, as it allows of the easy removal of 
the filled supers. When these are removed, others 
should be placed in their stead at once. My im- 
pression is that, with ordinary care, the amount of 
honey taken from twenty swarms in a single year 
will hardly exceed five hundred pounds — it should 
certainly reach that point. A portion of this will 
be brown or yellow honey, and not marketable. 
Very little of it will be unsuitable for home con- 
sumption. As freezing weather approaches, cush- 
ions of dry leaves or chopped straw are placed in 
the tops of the hives, and the bees winter on their 
out-of-door stands quite safely. In the spring it 
is often necessary to feed the weaker hives. This 
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