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HOW TO KEEP BEES

into the super instead of out of it. If the bee-escape is placed on the night before, there will be no bees in the super when it is removed next day. To introduce a bee-escape one does not need to lift off the super; simply lift it up at one side, send a little smoke into the crack, push in the bee-escape, and then set it straight upon the hive and the super straight upon it. (Plates III, XVIII.)

The novice might conclude that a good plan would be simply to set off the super near the hive, and let the bees find their own way back to their brood and kindred. But bee-nature has to be reckoned with in this instance, and the bees, conscious that the honey is their own, are likely to uncap the cells and carry the honey into the hive; or worse still, the bees from other hives will be attracted to these open stores and will begin to rob. And in the bee courts of equity, when bees begin to rob, then the "devil is to pay."

There have been various bee-tents devised under which the supers are placed after being removed from the hive. These tents are arranged with a little hole at the top by which the bees may escape, but may not return. Doctor Miller invented a simple plan of piling several supers filled with honey on top of each other, leaving no crevices between them; over these was spread a cloth with a hole in the middle, over which was placed a wire cone with a hole in the top large enough to let a bee pass out. Thus the bees from all of the sections escaped, one by one, and robbing was avoided. However, the