16 COMB HONEY. 
so on account of the resulting large percentage of imperfect combs, 
especially during poor and indifferent seasons and at the close of 
any season. The use of separators results in a much more uniform 
product. ; 
SHALLOW EXTRACTING SUPERS. 
Some comb-honey producers add to their equipment one shallow 
extracting super for each colony. These are a great convenience 
in a comb-honey apiary and may be used for the following purposes: 
(1) To keep the brood chamber free of honey before the beginning 
of the main honey flow; (2) to use at the beginning of the honey flow 
to induce the bees to begin work promptly in the supers; (3) to use 
at the close of the honey flow instead of the last comb-honey super; 
(4) to use during any flow of inferior honey or honeydew; (5) to use 
during very poor seasons when first-class comb honey can not be 
produced. . 
COMBINATION SUPERS. 
Other comb-honey producers provide each comb-honey super with 
two shallow extracting combs. These are placed one on each side 
of the super with the sections between them (fig. 11). The pur- 
pose of this arrangement is to induce the bees to begin work in the 
super promptly without the.use of “bait sections” (sections con- 
taining comb previously drawn) or an extracting super and also to 
do away with the usual poorly finished sections in the corners and 
outside rows. One great advantage of this system over the use of 
an extracting super to start early super work is that the combs are 
not removed. When shallow extracting supers are used for this 
purpose, they are removed as soon as the bees have started well in 
them and a comb-honey super substituted. This brings back much 
the same conditions existing before giving the extracting super, and 
while some colonies will begin work in the sections promptly when 
the change is made, many colonies hesitate about beginning the new 
work almost as though the extracting super had not been used. 
Such colonies are thus thrown out of “condition” (p. 19) and may 
begin preparations to swarm. The use of these combs in supers 
that are added subsequently allows the apiarist to place the empty 
super over the one already on the hive until the bees begin work 
therein without seriously crowding the super room, because each 
super thus added contains room in the form of empty comb into 
which the new nectar may be stored at once (see p. 42). . 
Other Apparatus. - 
Among the other apparatus needed in commercial comb-honey 
production are a honey extractor, wax press, bee escapes, and escape 
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