ITALIAN QUEEN BEE 77 



brood nest, and during a hot spell they 

 helped us to comfort, and contentment 

 with our quarters, by putting little blocks 

 under our brood nest to raise it up two 

 inches from the bottom board and permit 

 abundance of fresh air to reach us. Every 

 week or so, as we had partly finished a 

 super of thirty-two sections of honey, they 

 raised it up and put another under it, until 

 we thus had six supers over us, in all of 

 which we were storing the most delicious 

 comb honey. Finally, the first one, now 

 at the top, was found completed. They re- 

 moved it, and I heard them talking about 

 it, saying it was beautiful to behold, almost 

 too pretty to sell at any price. One by one 

 the topmost super was taken off, equally 

 finished, but as the honey season waned, 

 they put on no more, lest we should have 

 too many boxes to fill and finish to perfec- 

 tion. They thus adroitly had gotten us to 

 do our best in honey storing and could ad- 

 vertise our known qualities if they chose. 

 If they had allowed us to reduce our work- 



