284 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



and all circumstances there will be no danger. So we 

 aim to have each hive with its contents, its cover, and its 

 bottom-board, weigh as much as fifty pounds. Some will 

 weigh so much more than this that hefting will show that 

 there is no need of weighing. Even a strong colony that 

 stored well throughout the season in a prosperous year 

 may have had the brood-chamber so stocked with brood 

 that not enough honey was in the brood-chamber, so it is 

 well to heft and weigh even in the best seasons, and to 

 do this late enough so that storing from flowers need no 

 longer be taken into account, and so early that there will 

 be abundance of time for the bees to arrange matters to 

 their liking in the brood-chamber. 



Whether it would not be best always to provide in 

 advance to have the bees store enough honey in extra 

 combs so there would never be any need to feed sugar 

 except in years of downright failure, is a question that 

 might be considered. 



WEIGHING COLONIES. 



A common spring balance with a capacity of eighty 

 pounds is used for weighing (Fig. 105). An endless 

 rope passes around the hive under the cleat at each end, 

 then the hook of the spring balance passes under the two 

 parts of the rope over the hive, and the slack is taken up 

 by tying a string around the two parts under the hook. 

 A hickory stick used as a lever passes through the ring 

 of the upper part of the spring balance, the short end of 

 the lever being supported by a light frame-work that 

 stands on the adjoining hive. When all is properly ad- 

 justed, the long end of the lever is raised, and the weight 

 is read, and then taken down, so that a comb or combs 

 may be added to bring up to the desired weight. If no 

 precaution is taken, the spring balance, when first raised, 

 will slide on the lever down asfainst one's hands or shoul- 



