FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 181 



I am not sure whether it is better to use one spring or two 

 to a super. 



The T tins are not fastened to the super, but loose (Fig. 5). 



SECTIONS BEADY IN ADVANCE. 



The work of getting sections and supers ready for use has 

 been all done long before the time for putting on, and some- 

 thing 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 storeroom of the shop, ready 

 to carry out. 



Years ago I thought I was doing pretty well if I had ready 

 in advance as much as 4 supers filled with sections for each 

 colony. Certainly, if I could average, one year with another, 

 96 finished sections per colony, it would not be such a bad 

 thing. But if preparation is to be made in advance, it must be 

 not for an average crop, but for the largest crOp possible. Al- 

 lowance must be made, too, for unfinished sections that will be 

 taken off at the close of the season, and also for a good many 

 that the bees have not begun on at all. Being caught short of 

 sections and having to get them ready right in the rush of har- 

 vest made me change my mind as to the numher that should 

 be ready in advance. Several times I had to change my mind, 

 each time setting the mark a little higher, for as the years went 

 by the big yields of big years became bigger. One' reason for 

 this was no doubt the improvement in pasturage. Another was 

 the improvement in bees by continuous breeding from the 

 best storers. 



AN EMPHATIC SEASON. 



The year 1903 was one of the years that emphasized the 

 need of having a big stock of sections ready in advance. It 

 emphasized also the variableness of the seasons. Another item 

 of no small importance was the harvests of the present and fu- 

 ture as compared with the past. Some have said that, with 

 the advance of civilization, the plow and the ax have cut off 

 our resources for nectar, and we are no more to expect such 



