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, [ 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 suticiently crowded to 
get the sections well finished is the great test of the scientific 
bee-keeper. If, when the houey 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 he a lot of unfinished 
sections which cannot be marketed. On the other hand, if 
insutticient room is provided there will be a loss of honey for 
lack of storage room. 
Nothing can take the place of experience in determining this 
matter. With the beginner it will be almost altogether guess- 
work and as Dr. Miller savs the guess-work will never be alto- 
gether eliminated, for no man can tell ahead how long a honey 
flow will last. 
SWARM CONTROL 
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 honev 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 foree on the old stand to store some surplus. It will 
sometimes happen that about as much honey will be stored bv 
the two divisions as would have been the case had the colony 
not swarmed. 
Tn localities where the flow is sufficiently rapid to make comb 
honey production profitable, it is likely to be short and the 
