128 I'ORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



size much more than any other. I have used a few hun- 

 dreds of the tall sections, but my market does not seem 

 to hke them any better, if as well, as the square sections. 

 I have tried 4j4 square sections of several widths, i 15-16 

 inches wide, 7 to the foot, also 8, 9, and 10 to the foot. I 

 have made some trial of plain sections, but for my market 

 I am not sure that there is advantag'e enough in them to 

 make me chang-e from the two-bee-way sections. 



T SUPERS. 



The T supers I use are 1218 wide inside, just ri.gfht 

 for 8-frame hives. Just why I adopted this size I do not 

 know, for at that time I was usinc;- lo-frame hives, and it 

 was a little awkward to use a super so much narrower 

 than the hive. But at least part of the time I used only 

 eight frames in the lo-frame hives. 



The separators used are plain wood, and are gener- 

 ally bought new every year, for it is about as cheap to 

 buy new as to clean the old, and more satisfactory. The 

 usual follower fills out the super, wedged in with a plain 

 stick. I do not believe this kind of a wedge is so good 

 as super-springs, and I hope to change to springs in the 

 near future. The T tins are not fastened to the super, 

 but loose (Fig. 5.) 



SECTIONS READY IN AIA'ANCE. 



The work of getting sections and supers ready for 

 use has been all done long before the time for putting on, 

 and something will be said about how that work is done. 



At the time the supers are needed for putting on the 

 hives, they are all nicely piled up in the store-room of the 

 shop, ready to carry out, not less than four supers ready 

 for each colony. Even with that number prepared, I was 

 once caught short in the harvest time — ^not a pleasant 

 thing. Very likely they will not all be used, but some al- 



