In most comb-honey localities the season is short and there is usually during the season only one honey flow that furnishes any considerable surplus suitable for comb honey, with perhaps other honey flows either very meager or furnishing honey unsuitable in color. The early minor flows are in such localities utilized in brood rearing in preparation for the main flow, and those occurring after the main flow may be utilized for winter stores, or if sufficient in quantity some surplus may be secured. In localities where the season is made up of a series of honey flows of almost equal importance and with sometimes a long interval between, the problem of securing workers for the harvest is rendered more complex, since the process must be repeated for each crop or the colonies kept very strong throughout the season. As a rule such localities are not the best for comb-honey production. The workers that gather and store the crop of honey are those that emerge during the few weeks preceding and during the first part of the honey flow. Unless it is of unusual duration, the eggs that produce these workers are all laid before the honey flow begins, since those which develop from eggs laid later are not ready for work until after the close of the flow. On the other hand, the workers that emerge six weeks or more before the honey flow will have died of old age or be too old to be of much value during the flow. Their services, however, are of great value provided they expend their energy to the best possible advantage in rearing brood. If brood rearing ceases or is greatly restricted during this period, a colony that has been strong earlier in the season is rendered almost worthless as gatherers, since it begins the harvest with old and worn-out workers. This is exactly what often happens unless the beekeeper is alert and provides conditions such that brood rearing is not restricted during this period. In the clover belt, for example, it frequently happens that there is a scarcity of nectar during the period when the workers for the harvest should be reared and, unless the colonies are abundantly supplied with stores, brood rearing is greatly restricted. This may to some extent justify the saying among beekeepers that if the early flowers yield well the season will be good. The progressive beekeeper, however, provides conditions favorable to brood rearing even though the early flowers fail to yield nectar. It is therefore highly important (1) that each colony be in a normal condition at a period six or eight weeks previous to the honey flow, and (2) that brood rearing be at its maximum for the entire period of six or eight weeks during which the brood is reared to produce workers available for the honey flow. =BUILDING UP THE COLONY IN THE EARLY SPRING.=