152 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



tion of unfinished sections at the final taking off, or one 

 may leave the bees so crowded for room as to lose part 

 of the crop. I am not likely to make the latter mistake, 

 which I consider a good deal worse than to have too many 

 unfinished sections. 



GUESSING ABOUT MORE SUPER-ROOM. 



On the whole, there is a mixture of judgment and 

 guess-work as to putting on any super after the first. 

 Perhaps the nearest to a general rule in the matter is to 

 give a second super when the first is half filled. If, how- 

 ever, honey seems to be coming in slowly, or if the colony 

 is not strong, and the bees seem to have plenty of room 

 in the super, no second super is given, although the one 

 already there may be nearly filled with honey. On the 

 other hand, if honey seems to be coming with a rush, and 

 the bees seem crowded for room, a second super may be 

 given, although there is very little honey in the first. 

 These same conditions continued, a third super may be 

 given when the second is only fairly started and the first 

 not half full, and before the first super is ready to take 

 off there may be four or five supers on the hive. 



RISKING IN GOOD SEASON. 



In the year 1897 — a remarkably prosperous year — 

 there were at one time on the hives in the Wilson apiary 

 an average of four supers to each colony, some colonies 

 with less than four and some with more, and not a fin- 

 ished super in the lot. As I would lie at night thinking it 

 over, I would say to myself, "What if there should come 

 one of those sudden stops to the flow that sometimes oc- 

 cur, and you should be caught with those tons of honey 

 with scarcely any sections finished in the lot? Wouldn't 

 you wish you had gone a little slower, and had the bees 

 finish up what they had, rather than to coax them to 



