Arrangements for Comb Honey. 289 



Miller, let the bees swarm, and return them, either caging 

 the queen or placing her in a nucleus for seven days, then 

 return her to the bees, after cutting out the queen-cells. 

 This takes nothing from the energy of the bees, and will 

 doubtless w^ork best of all methods in the hands of the 

 beginner. In this case, as the full energies of the colony are 

 turned to storing, the amount of honey would be theoret- 

 ically greater. My practice sustains the theory. Such 

 authorities as Messrs. Hetherington and Elwood practice 

 this method. J. H. Robertson kills the old queen, and in 

 seven days destroys all but the largest queen-cell, and so 

 gains the same end, and re-queens his apiary. If increase 

 is desired, however, then Mr. Hutchinson's method should 

 be followed. The yield of comb honey in this last case will 

 not usually be so great, though in excellent seasons it may 

 be greater. 



Some very able bee-keepers manipulate so skillfully, by 

 adding empty combs to the hives, as to keep this swarming 

 impulse in check, and still keep the bees increasing most 

 rapidly. Others divide the colonies, and so hold at bay the 

 swarming fever. All must practice as their own experience 

 proves best, as the same method will not have equal value 

 with different persons. We must work as best we can to 

 secure strong colonies, and check or retard the swarming 

 fever, and while learning by experience to do this, may 

 well work the most of our bees for extracted honey, which 

 is more easily secured, and is sure to be in demand, even 

 though the price is less. The quantity may more than 

 compensate for lower price. 



ADJUSTMENT OF SECTIONS. 



As before suggested, a wide space between bottom bars 

 of sections — three-eighths inch — is desirable. Mr. A, J. 

 Green has half-story supers with frames only one-half as 

 deep for extracting. These are put, one on each hive at 

 the dawn of the honey harvest. As soon as the bees com- 

 mence to work in them they are removed or raised and a 

 section crate put in their place. As the bees commenee 

 in the sections these extracting half-story hives ai-e used 

 one above another with such colonies as are worked for 



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