DR. MILLER’S PLAN 155 
hive. As soon as any colonies are strong enough to fill the eight 
frames he adds another story—-a full sized hive body full of 
empty brood combs. Instead of putting this empty story on top 
he raises the hive and places it underneath. In this manner the 
heat of the colony is fully conserved. At the same time the bees 
will work down as fast as they need the room. White clover is 
the chief source of his surplus, and he endeavors to keep the bees 
occupied with breeding until the beginning of the clover flow. 
When conditions are right for putting on the supers he again 
reduces the colony to eight frames. If there is less than eight 
frames of brood he places it all in a single hive body and places 
the super on top to provide the room formerly given by the extra 
hive body. If there are more than eight frames of brood the 
extra frames are given to colonies with less than eight frames. 
If, as sometimes happens, he has some frames of brood left after 
all colonies are provided with eight frames in single hive bodies, 
the rest is used to make increase, or to form nuclei or is even 
placed in hive bodies which are piled one on top of another to 
permit the brood to hatch, and latter be used where needed. If 
there is no other use for it a queen is given or else one is raised 
from young larva in the hive and a strong colony is the result. 
Concerning additional super room Dr. Miller says: 
During the early part of the harvest, so long as there is a reasonable 
expectation that each additional super will be needed, the empty super 
is put under the others, next to the brood chamber. Work will commence 
in it more promptly than when an empty super is placed on top, and that 
greater promptness in occupying the new super may be the straw to turn 
the scale on the side of keeping down the desire for swarming. But when 
a super is put on toward the close of the season, not because it seems really 
needed but as a sort of safety-valve in case it might be needed, I do not 
wish to do anything to coax the bees into it, so it is put on top, and the 
bees can do as they please about entering it. It is true that if an empty 
super is placed under the others at a time when the harvest is nearing its 
close, the bees may not do a thing in it, but merely go up and down through 
it and keep to work in the super above. But it is not so well to have them 
working so far from the brood nest with empty space beneath. 
Latterly I have fallen into the habit of giving an empty super on top, 
even when an empty super is put under. The empty super on top gives 
a less crowded feeling and may help a little toward preventing swarming. 
No matter how full or empty the lower super may be, this top super serves 
