96 Advanced Bcc Culture 



One object in adding the empt)- combs at the bottom, and keeping 

 the oldest, ripest honey at the top, is that, if it should be desirable at 

 any time to remove any of the supers of honey, either to extract the 

 honey at once, or because the hive was becoming piled too high, the 

 oldest honev would always be on top, where it could be removed the 

 most readily by the use of bee-escapes. 



When ten-frame Langstroth hives are piled up four and five high, 

 the putting-in of the escape-boards is no light task, especiall\ for one 

 man; and I have tried to plan all of my wcirk so that one man can go 

 to an outyard, all alone, go on a wheel or in a trolley car. or in some 

 such manner, and go on and do the work to advantage without an\- 

 assistance. I would have a honey-house and full complement of tools 

 and appliances at each yard ; then, during the working season, all that 

 has to be carried from one yard to another is simply the man himself. 



After the escape-boards are in place I go over every hive carefully, 

 carefully. caeefull"i'. to see that there are no cracks that will let bees 

 into the super after the inmates have gone down through the escape. 

 One who has never used escapes will be surprised how small a crack 

 will let in a bee. The best of any thing that I have ever found to stop 

 up these cracks in soft clay. Find some stiff clay, just about such as 

 would be used for making bricks ; moisten it, stir it, and work it until 

 it is of just about the consistency of putty. Take a ball of this in the 

 hands and go around and examine all the hives, plastering some of the 

 clay putty into every crack. I never knew the bees to tr\- to dig out 

 the mud, and it soon hardens down as hard as a marble. 



At each one of our apiaries we have a place to sleep and cook, 

 even if it is only a tent, and we can go the day before we are to begin 

 extracting, and put a bee-escape under the top super of everv hive. The 

 next morning most of the supers will be free from bees, and we can 

 begin taking them off and putting the escapes in under the next storv. 

 As we begin taking off the honey we also begin warming it up, and, 

 when warm enough, we begin extracting. You will notice that there 

 are really four operations : Putting the escapes in place ; wheeling the 

 honey into the honey-house ; warming up the honey and then extracting 

 it ; and, once the \\(n-k is begun, it is eas)- to follow out a sort of routine 

 in the work. 



\\'.\RI\IING UP THE HONEY. 



The first year we warmed up the honey with a base-burner hard- 

 coal stove. This gives a very even, steady, desirable heat ; but it is 

 too expensive, and not ver_\- practical, to have a hard-coal stove at each 

 apiary in the woods of Northern Michigan ; so, last \-ear, we used a 

 Perfection oil-heater, costing about $5.00. capable of burning a gallon 



