156 PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY 



as a sort of safety-valve, in case any need for more room should arise. 

 The next time there is need to give a super below, this top super is moved 

 down and another empty super put in its place. When the top super is put 

 down, I think the bees start work on it just a bit sooner than if it had not 

 been above. 



The ability to provide the bees with sufficient room to make 

 the most of the harvest and yet keep them sufficiently crowded to 

 get the sections well finished is the great test of the scientific 

 bee-keeper. If, when the honey is coming in with a rush, too 

 many supers are put on, the bees will scatter their forces to such 

 an extent that when the flow stops there will be a lot of unfinished 

 sections which cannot be marketed. On the other hand, if 

 insufficient room is provided there will be a loss of honey for 

 lack of storage room. 



E^othing can take the place of experience in determining this 

 matter. With the beginner it will be almost altogether guess- 

 work and as Dr. Miller says the guess-work will never be alto- 

 gether eliminated, for no man can tell ahead how long a honey 

 flow will last. 



SWARM COI^TROL, 



The man who will find the secret of swarm control will 

 confer a great blessing on the fraternity and his name will not 

 be forgotten. Many and various are the plans recommended 

 to prevent swarming. While the extracted honey producer is 

 able to reduce this trouble to the minimum and in ordinary 

 seasons have little difficulty, the comb honey producer who does 

 not find it his greatest problem has not been heard from. A 

 strong colony may swarm and take enough bees to found a new 

 colony and store a profitable crop, while at the same time leaving 

 enough force on the old stand to store some surplus. It will 

 sometimes happen that about as much honey will be stored by 

 the two divisions as would have been the case had the colony 

 not swarmed. 



In localities where the flow is sufficiently rapid to make comb 

 honey production profitable, it is likely to be short and the 



