338 THE bbb-keepbr's guidb ; 



them, they are removed or raised and a section-case put in 

 their place. As the bees commence in the sections these 

 extracting half-story hives are used one above another with 

 such colonies as are worked for extracted honey. The sections 

 should be on at the very dawn of each honey harvest, as white 

 clover, basswood, etc. At first the full set of sections better 

 not be added, but as soon as the bees commence to work well 

 in them, they all should be added, on side and top, if side-stor- 

 ing is practiced, and, if we wish to tier up, the case of sections 

 first added should be raised and others added below. I like 

 this practice of tiering up very much. As soon as the bees are 

 working well in all the sections I raise the case and place 

 another underneath. This is continued, often till there are 

 three cases of sections on a single hive. Some think that if 

 the unfilled case of sections is placed above instead of below, 

 that less unfilled sections will remain at the close of the 

 season, as the warmth higher up is grateful to the bees. As 

 already stated, it is best not to have the sections too closely 

 shut in. Slight ventilation is often desirable. 



If the queen troubles by entering the sections, use may be 

 made of the perforated zinc (Fig. 91), or, better still, the queen- 

 excluding honey-board (Fig. 91), to keep her from them. As 

 already suggested, we must arrange the form and size of sec- 

 tions as the market and our hives and apparatus make most 

 desirable. We may vary the size and form of our sections so 

 as to make them smaller, and yet use the same cases or frames 

 that we used with larger sections. Small sections are most 

 ready of sale, and safest to ship ; yet with their use we may 

 secure less honey. 



If we can get nice, straight combs by having them less 

 thick without using separators in the sections, so that these 

 latter can be readily placed side by side in shipping-cases, 

 then we, by all means, better omit the separators. If we use 

 separators, we can use wood or tin. Wood is cheapest, and I 

 find that in practice it serves even better than tin. The plain 

 sections with fence (page 241) give separators and wide con- 

 nections, and are sure to grow in favor. 



