154 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



there will be that number of finished supers to each 

 colony, for very likely the last super given will have very 

 little honey in it when the harvest is over. But it will 

 not do to let the bees be crowded for room, and if all the 

 sections on the hive are about full, if the harvest has not 

 entirely closed an empty super must be given, in case they 

 might need it. 



SUPERS FOR OUT-APIARIES. 



If there is guessing about the number of supers to 

 put on in the home apiary, there is still more guessing as 

 to the number to be taken when starting to an out-apiary. 

 If I take a smaller number than needed, I may have to 

 take a special trip for more. If I take more than are 

 needed, I will hardly want to take them back home with 

 me, and they are put in piles and covered up in the hope 

 that they may be used the next time. But there is some 

 danger of their being affected by rain when piled up at 

 the out-apiary, so there is trouble either way. On the 

 whole it is better to take too many than too few, and so 

 there are generally some extra ones at the out-apiaries. 



To take supers to the out-apiaries, they are piled up 

 on the wagon in five piles, a lath is nailed from top to 

 bottom on each pile, and they are braced on top with lath 

 (Fig. 64). Fifty empty supers can be taken at a load, 

 but it is not often that as many as forty filled supers are 

 taken at a load. 



ADDING SUPERS UNDER OR OVER. 



As the harvest advances I am more chary about giv- 

 ing room, and it is only given when the sections already 

 on are pretty well filled. Suppose toward the last of the 

 season I come to a colony that has its sections nearly all 

 filled. There is a possibility that the bees may be able to 

 finish up what they have and a few more in an additional 

 super, but the great probability is that they will do no 



