248 A Modem Bee-Farm 



basis of that method, and the Conqueror hive was then 

 promised by me for the perfect working of that system, 

 enabling the lower chamber to be handled as freely as the 

 stock itself, or the chambers above it ; so that all diffi- 

 cullie-s and inconvenience in the way of working the 

 supers from bottom to top were finally overcome. 



It may be both interesting and instructive if I here give 

 some quotations from the above pamphlet showing the 

 importance of that development in comb-honey produc- 

 tion. 



On page 10 — "The bees can be at once crowded into 

 " the sections ; the latter being first fitted with newly- 

 " built combs." ..." The supers being all fitted 

 " with combs, obtained as hereafter described, the bees 

 " will fill those rather than go on comb-building to any 

 " extent below. . . . Neither strips [starters] nor 

 " full sheets of foundation will induce the bees to work in 

 " them [the sections above] while so much room is allowed 

 " in the stock chamber, and when one has once made up 

 ■" his mind to start with nothing but comb, he will find it 

 ■" can be done, and moreover, an immensely increased 

 " yield will be secured thereby. The difference in 

 " using foundation and ready-built combs in supers 

 " [sections] will represent at least 30lbs. in favour of the 

 " latter, as the bees store all their surplus above from the 

 " very first." 



Therein will be found anticipated the fear of hundreds 

 of bee-keepers that comb-honey cannot be produced 

 unless the bees are crowded from top to bottom, from side 

 to side, and corner to corner of every available space in 

 the hive. Hundreds of even prominent bee-men, editors, 

 contributors, and others, still insist that such must be the 

 case, in spite of the grand success of Simmins' Non- 

 Swarming System, and its basis established upon solid 



