BEES. 838 
form product—so uniform in fact that it is often charged that it must 
be artificially manufactured. The purchaser of a section of comb 
honey may be absolutely certain, however, that he is obtaining a 
product of the bees, for never has anyone been able to imitate their 
work successfully. To show their confidence in the purity of comb 
honey, the National Bee Keepers’ Association offers $1,000 for a 
single pound of artificial comb filled with an artificially prepared sirup. 
There are several different styles of sections now in use, the usual 
sizes being 44 inches square and 4 inches by 5 inches. There are also 
two methods of spacing, so that there will be room for the passage of 
bees from the brood chamber into the sections and from one super of 
sections to another. This is done either by cutting “bee ways”’ in 
the sides of the sections and using plain flat separators or by using 
“no bee-way”’ or plain sections and using “fences’’—separators with 
cleats fastened on each side, to provide the bee space. To describe 
all the different “supers’’ or bodies for holding sections would be 
impossible in a bulletin of this size, and the reader must be referred to 
catalogues of dealers in bee-keeping supplies. Instead of using regu- 
lar comb-honey supers, some bee keepers use wide frames to hold two 
tiers of sections. It is better, however, to have the supers smaller, so 
that the bees may be crowded more to produce full sections. To 
overcome this difficulty, shallow wide frames holding one tier of sec- 
tions may be used. The majority of bee keepers find it advisable to 
use special comb-honey supers. 
In producing comb honey it is even more necessary to know the 
plants which produce surplus honey and just when they come in 
bloom than it is in extracted honey production. The colony should 
be so manipulated that the maximum field force is ready for the 
beginning of the flow. This requires care in spring management, 
and above all the prevention of swarming. Supers should be put 
on just before the heavy flow begins. A good indication of the need 
of supers is the whitening of the brood combs at the top. If the bees 
are in two-hive bodies they should generally be reduced to one, and 
the frames should be filled with brood and honey so that as the new 
crop comes in the bees will carry it immediately to the sections. 
If large hives are used for the brood chamber it is often advisable 
to remove some of the frames and use a division board to crowd the 
bees above. To prevent the queen from going into the sections to 
lay, a sheet of perforated zine (fig. 20) may be put between the brood 
chamber and the super (fig. 2). 
It is often difficult to get bees to begin work in the small sections, 
but this should be brought about as soon as possible to prevent loss 
of honey. If there are at hand some sections which have been partly 
drawn the previous year, these may be put in the super with the 
397 
