Proper manipulation of the comb-honey supers is not only a strong factor in the prevention of swarming but is also a stimulus to storing. The amount of room the colonies should have in the surplus apartment varies so much that the ordinary standard super is simply a unit in a large and flexible surplus apartment. If enough surplus room is given at the beginning of the season for the storage of the entire crop of honey, the space so given is too great for best results at the beginning of the honey flow, and little of it is needed at all if the season is poor. If, on the other hand, a single super is given and no other added until the first is completed, the room in the surplus apartment decreases from the time the super is given until the combs are completely drawn out, when there is little space left between the combs, the bees being practically crowded out. Thus while the population of the colony is increasing their room is being diminished--a condition highly conducive to swarming and less energetic work. After the super is filled, it is some time before the honey is ripened and sealed, ready to be removed. During this interval, if no other supers are given, there is no place for storage of the incoming nectar, and the comb builders must remain idle or waste their wax in building burr and brace combs. To avoid loss in this way, empty supers are added as they are needed, and the comb builders move from one super to another as their work in each is completed. The surplus apartment, whether consisting of a single super or several supers, should at all times contain some space for the comb builders. If the honey flow is heavy and promises to continue, it is desirable to furnish not only sufficient room but to induce the bees to begin work in as many sections as possible, giving large comb surface for the storage and evaporation of the thin nectar, thus in a measure approximating extracted honey conditions. There is a danger, however, that if the bees are induced to extend their work through too many supers, the sections when completed will be less well filled and therefore lighter in weight. Also, if the honey flow should not continue as expected a rapid expansion of the surplus apartment results in a large number of unfinished sections.