150 PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY 
age was only secured after nearly half a century of study of the 
principles of bee-keeping as applied to a particular locality. 
True, conditions were exceptionally favorable and such an oppor- 
tunity would only come once in years, but few bee-keepers would 
be so well prepared when it did come, or fully understand how to 
make the most of the favorable condition. 
Prepare in Advance.—One ereat secret of success is in having 
everything in readiness when the flow begins—to have one’s dish 
right side up when it rains honey. The winter months can be 
utilized to prepare a sufficient number of supers to care for anv 
crop. The failure to provide supers in advance is common and 
one that costs the hee-keepers of the country thousands of tons 
of honey every good season. The bigger the harvest and the more 
urgent the need of extra room the less time there will be to pre- 
pare supers. Dr. Miller’s advice is to have enough supers ahead 
to hold the biggest crop ever harvested in the locality and one 
extra super for each hive. After his big vield in 1913 he has 
not been heard to say how many that would take in his locality 
but prior to that time he estimated that at least seven supers 
for each hive should be ready to be safe (Fig. 67). 
The fact that such a large number of supers will be left over 
from vear to year leads most hee-keepers to neglect this precan- 
tion. If properly eared for they will not be injured even though 
not used for several years, and when the big yield does come 
they will be worth many times the cost. 
Putting on the Supers.—Supers should not be put on every 
colony in a hit-and-miss manner whether they need room or not. 
Weak colonies that are not ready for storage room for surplus 
will be needlessly taxed to warm this extra space on cool nights 
and be further delaved in building up. Extra strong colonies 
will be ready for extra space before the average colonies, and 
the average colonies in turn will be ready some time in advance 
of the weak ones. There is no advantage in putting on supers 
when no honey is coming in, even though the colonies be strong. 
In most well-regvlated apiaries one colony is kept on seales in 
