232 A Modern Bee-Farm 
chambers teeming with life, but at least one other must 
be added above with empty combs, or odd brood combs 
that may be left over from stocks united for surplus comb 
honey. If foundation must be used in the absence of 
sufficient combs to fill further chambers, then it will be 
better to alternate frames of comb and foundation, to 
secure the more rapid completion of the latter. 
Where extracted honey is to be largely worked for, 
t 
Surplus Brood Combs 
are the most valuable stock-in-trade the bee-keeper can 
have, if he only takes care when out of use to keep them 
in a dry store with free ventilation, and all vermin excluded. 
Where the producer confines himself to shallow extracting 
combs,* especially if these are all drone combs, his 
manipulations are restricted and his honey results seriously 
curtailed. 
A Great Evil 
noticeable in nearly all apiaries is the absence of any 
attempt to keep on hand a supply of surplus stock 
chambers, In calling attention to this I have no intention 
whatever of seeking accommodation for swarms, but have 
in mind the best means of restraining them, and making 
far more profitable use of the ever swelling numbers in 
the mother hive. 
What reasonable man can for a moment imagine he is to 
secure large results from the one brood chamber which still 
constitutes the rule in Modern (?) Bee-keeping ? 
A hive which does not permit of rapid extension either 
above or below the original brood chamber, by the season- 
* The largest yields have been secured by using standard brood 
frames in the extracting supers; 360 lbs. in the West of England 
and 357 lbs. from one colony in the East. 
