244 
COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 
Method of inserting the escape-board. 
and pick up the escape-board, which should 
be leaning conveniently against the leg. 
Slide this on top of the hive as far as it 
will go, bee-space side up. Let the super 
down gently on the escape-board, and, last 
of all, bring the escape-board and super 
into alignment with the hive. This method 
eliminates hard lifting, saves time, pre¬ 
vents angering the bees, and avoids killing 
them. See illustrations above. 
The best time to put on Porter escapes 
is always in the morning. The held bees in 
the supers will leave to go to the field dur¬ 
ing the day and, of course, can not get 
back. If 30 or 40 of the escapes are put 
on, the next morning about nine o’clock 
there will be 30 or 40 supers ready to 
come off, with but few bees in them. If 
there are three or four bees left, or a doz¬ 
en, they will usually take wing as soon as 
the super is uncovered. 
In taking off comb honey during a good 
honey flow, bee-escapes are not needed. In 
fact for out-apiaries it is inconvenient to 
use them, since an extra trip must be made 
to put them in place, but at the close of the 
season bee-escapes are almost a necessity. 
When removing supers during the honey 
flow without bee-escapes a good operator 
soon leams the trick of driving the bees 
out quickly and taking the super away be¬ 
fore any can return. As the cover is lifted, 
the bees should be started down at once 
with smoke and kept on the go until they 
leave the super. They must not be permit¬ 
ted to stop on the way to fill themselves 
with honey, for when they once get their 
heads into the cells, they pay but little at¬ 
tention to smoke. 
Quite a number of bees can be brushed 
off the top of the sections when the hive is 
first opened, brushing and smoking at the 
same time. While the bees are being driven 
down, the super should be pried loose from 
the one below but not lifted until most of 
the bees are out, when one end of the super 
is lifted quickly, and at the same time 
pulled backward slightly, so it will rest 
upon the super below at one end, while 
being brought almost to a vertical position, 
when the bees that are on the bottom of 
the super should be brushed off. All this 
should be done so quickly that the bees on 
the bottom of the super do not have time 
to get back among the sections before they 
can be brushed off. 
If robbers are not troublesome the 
supers still containing a few bees may be 
simply leaned against the hive, standing on 
end, until the bees go out of them. If rob¬ 
bers begin to come, the supers can be piled 
up in the apiary, eight or ten in a pile, 
placing the first one on a hive cover or bot¬ 
tom, being careful to leave no openings 
where bees can enter. The top of the pile 
may be kept closed with a hive cover or an 
inner cover which is pushed off as each 
super is added, then quickly put back in 
place on the top of the pile. As these piles 
are uncovered from time to time in adding- 
more supers many of the confined bees es¬ 
cape. Finally while loading the supers to 
take them home, most of the remaining 
bees will leave them. 
Sometimes the sections of honey can be 
sorted in the apiary without robbers both¬ 
ering, and the unfinished sections returned 
to the bees at once ? but frequently this 
