Murray McGregor wrote:

> Not seeking to pick a fight here, but this is very old fashioned advice,
> dating from an era when the only way to handle heather honey was as cut
> comb, and thus the supers had to be kept virginal (not bred in) and free
> of pollen plugs. It causes a short lived benefit as the bees work
> themselves out, but there is not enough hatching brood to replace the
> old bees and you get a brief burst of work and then a weak colony. Many
> operators, even fairly big ones, still use this system, but it does
> institutionalise getting a small crop.

There is a great truth here, and reflects a characteristic of human
nature, that "We have always done it this way" even if it is the wrong
way.

I see it here in Maine with many beekeepers happy with small crops of
honey because others around them also have small crops, hence the
standard is small crops. Someone who does things differently and gets
large crops is an anomaly.

Add to the beekeepers proverbs...

"If all beekeepers are miserable, then we must be doing something
right."

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine