The Fccdiiii^ of Bees Si 



commenced. The cases containing the first two grades are then placed 

 upon the hives, one case upon a hive, and allowed to remain until the 

 bees have taken possession of them. 



Then comes the task of selecting the colonies to do the work; and, 

 by the way, this is the most important point of all. First, the colonies 

 must be strong; next, they must possess young queens, preferably those 

 of the current 3'^ar, although this is not imperative ; and last, but not 

 least, simon-pure blacks are given the first choice. Hybrids are the 

 next best, while, as a rule, Italians do very poor work in this line. Keep- 

 ing these points in view, I select one-half as many colonies as I have 

 cases of unfinished sections upon the hives, and to these colonies I 

 transfer the cases — sections, bees, and all — putting two cases upon a 

 hive. I have never experienced the least trouble, in any respect, from 

 thus mixing up the bees, while populous colonies are secured thereby. 



If the brood-nests are not already contracted, I contract them. The 

 greater the contraction, the more satisfactory will be the results, so far 

 as work in the sections is concerned ; but if carried too far it will mate- 

 rially weaken the colonies by curtailing the production of brood. I 

 have sometimes contracted the brood-nest to only three Langstroth 

 combs ; and these three combs, when I was through feeding, were three 

 solid sheets of brood; but, all things considered, I prefer to contract 

 the brood-nest to about the capacity of five Langstroth combs. There 

 is also another point that must not be neglected ; and that is, that the 

 brood-combs must not be old and black, otherwise the combs in the 

 sections will become travel-stained unless removed very promptly upon 

 their completion. The newer the combs in the brood-nest, the better. 



When honey is brought in from the fields it is carried up into the 

 sections ; that is, the supply, as regards the sections, comes from below. 

 In feeding" back, the feeder is usually placed above the supers, in which 

 case the supply comes from above. In both instances, the sections in 

 which the work is the least advanced should be placed nearest the 

 source of supply. Thus it will be seen that, in feeding back, the sections 

 that are nearly finished are placed next to the brood-nest, and above 

 these the grade that is about half completed. 



The feeder that I used is the Heddon, which is exactly the size of 

 the top of the hive, and is placed above the sections. This feeder is 

 unexcelled for this purpose, as the bees take down the feed from both 

 sides. This might not seem important, but it is, and for this reason : 

 when the feed is carried down upon one side only, the sections upon 

 this side are completed first. When the feed is carried down from both 

 sides, the sections are finished up very evenly all over the case. In this 

 feeder, the reservoir is in the center, and just over it the cover slides 

 back in grooves. There is no contact with the bees, no smoke is needed. 



