146 PRODUCTION OP COMB HONEY 



honey flow comes it is important to make it possible for all bees 

 to work and also important to save every unnecessary tax on their 

 energy. In too many apiaries a single super with small starters 

 will be placed on the hive and half the working force will be 

 loafing for lack of storage room. ISTot more than a dozen bees 

 are required to cover the bits of starter used by some. 



The small compartments in which the bees are forced to 



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Fig. 74. — The Pangburn foundation fastener and sections filled with foundation. 



work when storing in sections are unnatural, and considerable 

 skill is sometimes necessary to get them started to work there at 

 all. The small spaces make it impossible for the bees to cluster 

 in large bunches as they do naturally when comb building. A 

 dozen or two of bees will find it hard to reproduce a natural con- 

 dition, but a full sheet offers much better opportunity. The 

 wax which they need is already prepared to a large extent and a 

 sufficient number can work together to assist in warming the 

 wax and to encourage each other. 



The method generally practised among large producers is to 



