COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 
243 
bling these unfinished sections in the su¬ 
pers, those nearest completion should be 
placed in the middle, putting sections only 
partly filled in the outside rows. These 
sections for the outside rows may be taken 
from those supers which were on top act¬ 
ing as safety valves. As these supers are 
now arranged, the finishing is to be done 
in the middle of the super where it will be 
done more promptly, while the comb-build¬ 
ing, if any, is done on the two outside rows. 
WHAT TO DO WITH UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 
The supers in which but little work has 
been done can now be piled up crisscross 
near the apiary and the bees invited to 
help themselves, provided there are enough 
such supers so that the bees will not crowd 
each.other so much that they will tear down 
the comb. This, of course, should not be 
done if there is any foul brood among the 
colonies or if the apiary is too close to a 
neighboring residence. 
The last supers which were given to the 
finishing colonies should not be left too 
long, but should be removed as soon as 
most of the sections are finished. Usually 
it does not pay to return the unfinished sec¬ 
tions from this last lot of supers for com¬ 
pletion. Some of these may be sold as 
culls, or cut out and sold as chunk honey. 
Many comb-honey producers extract the 
honey from these unfinished sections and 
save the combs for bait sections the next 
season. 
The important thing in taking care of 
unfinished sections to be used again the 
next year is to take them off before the 
wood is soiled with propolis and the foun¬ 
dation gnawed at the edges and also var¬ 
nished over with propolis. 
If the honey flow fails suddenly, afford¬ 
ing no opportunity to return unfinished 
sections to the bees for completion, they 
may be completed by feeding back extract¬ 
ed honey. (See Feeding Back.) In this 
case, the unfinished sections may be sorted 
into different grades and the lightest ones 
extracted to secure the honey to feed back 
in finishing the heaviest ones. 
Feeding back extracted honey to secure 
the completion of unfinished sections was 
formerly practiced to a considerable extent 
by comb-honey producers, but has been dis¬ 
continued by most of them. Comb hone} 
finished by feeding back is usually inferior 
in appearance, tends to granulate early in 
the winter, and much more honey must lie 
fed than is finally stored in the sections, a 
large amount being consumed by the bees 
during the process. Successful feeding 
back depends so much upon selecting colo¬ 
nies that are in just the right condition for 
this work and upon weather conditions at 
the time the feeding is done, that few 
will care to attempt it, preferring to sell 
the unfinished honey as culls and extract¬ 
ing that which cannot be sold in this way. 
HOW TO TAKE OFF COMB HONEY. 
The most satisfactory arrangement for 
getting bees out of supers is the double¬ 
end Porter bee-escape. This is mounted in 
a board, cleated at the ends and sides, in 
such a way as to provide a bee-space on 
one side, so that it can be placed between 
the supers and the brood-nest beneath. But 
care should be taken that it be placed right 
side up—that is, the side up as shown in 
the illustration. Tf the device be put on 
in the morning, practically all the bees will 
lie out of the super by the next morning. 
One method of putting on one of these 
escape-boards is as follows: With a hive- 
tool, screw-driver, putty-knife, or pry, 
loosen the super so that propolis connec¬ 
tions will be broken. With one hand tilt 
up the super at one end enough to make a 
gap, and with the other hand take the 
smoker and blow in two or three whiffs of 
smoke to drive the bees back. Lift the end 
of the super up a little further so• that it 
will stand at an angle of nearly 45 degrees. 
With the free hand set down the smoker 
