22 Kansas State Horticultural Society. 



get a good crop too ; but if nice, fat combs are produced they will be pro- 

 duced where the bees have not too big a surface to cover. It is not advisable 

 for anyone to attempt to produce comb honey alone. The flow is not always 

 good enough for comb honey; and there are always colonies in any apiary 

 that are not strong enough for comb honey but are strong enough to store 

 extracted honey. It seems to me that the beekeeper should produce both. 

 If one has the equipment and is ready for a big crop and the good big season 

 we all look for every year, and gets all the comb-honey supers filled, he is 

 far ahead financially of what he would be if producing only extracted honey. 



About sections and filling sections with foundation: I have tried three 

 arrangements that are supposed to fasten foundation to the top of the sec- 

 tion by the hot-plate method. They have been a rank failure with me. 

 There is not enough melted wax to do the job so they will stay. You know, 

 as my bees are in the country, the supers have to be handled several times 

 and then take some bumping on the road, and I want that foundation to 

 stay put. I use full sheets, of course. I cut the foundation so it just fits 

 inside the section, and then with melted wax, that stands on an oil stove 

 near me, I fasten the foundation to the wood. I use a bristle brush with a 

 long handle. They are what are sold as artists' bristles, and a flat one is 

 better than a round one, and should be about a quarter of an inch wide. 

 While fastening foundation that way is not the fastest way, it is much faster 

 than the Van Dusen fastener, and the beauty of it is that it does the job, and 

 a super has to have rougher handling than I ever gave one to loosen founda- 

 tion from the section. I have tried half sheets of foundation, a short starter, 

 and a sheet about four-fifths the depth of the section and then a bottom 

 starter. I really think the latter is the very best method of putting founda- 

 tion in sections, but it is troublesome, and I have been cutting my sheets 

 so they will just go in the section and fastening them on three sides with 

 wax as described. If one uses a short starter he will have many sections in 

 a crop that are not fastened at the sides or bottom. He i will have many 

 built nearly full about half way down, and then quit. He will have a lot 

 of chunk honey in sections, which is too expensive a way to produce chunk 

 honey. If the flow is good and the bees are strong one can get good comb 

 honey with short starters. If one uses full sheets the bees will begin sooner 

 without crowding, will fill the sections quicker, there will be few half-built 

 sections if properly supered, and there will be light sections instead of chunks 

 reaching half way down, and the light sections will be straight and market- 

 able. 



When I see the crop coming I order shipping cases and get them nailed, and 

 as fast as the supers are packed I fill the supers with new sections; having 

 a large number ready and waiting for that time. The reason for that is that 

 sometimes we get a big heartsease flow in August and September, and I want 

 to be ready for that in case it does come. Another reason for getting the 

 comb honey off as soon as it is done is to prevent the bees from getting it 

 tra\el stained and injuring the color. In packing it I sometimes find a sec- 

 tion or two that are not finished. I fill supers with these and give them back 

 to the bees, as I always start packing before the flow is entirely over, if 

 possible. If I have a quantity of these left after the flow is oyer, and they 

 are too light to market, I extract them and save the combs and sections. 



