COMB FOUNDATION. 



99 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



this much, that they remodel and rebuild 

 the cells before drawing them out. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION IN BROOD- 

 FRAMES. 



Some bee-keepers secure the foundation to 

 the top-bar without using any stays or wires 

 to hold the sheet in place: but the great ma- 

 jority seem to prefer to have all their frames 

 wired— that is to say, strands of No. 30 wire 

 stretched vertically or horizontally across 

 the frame; these are then imbedded into a 

 sheet of foundation which fills the frame. 

 The resulting combs, therefore, are firmly 



METHOD OF DRAWING UP THE WaRE PRE- 

 PARATORY TO FASTENING. 



anchored in place to stand the rough usage 

 of the extractor, for shipment of colonies on 

 them by express or freight, or hauling over 

 rough roads to out-yards. 



Most bee-keepers say that the expense of 

 the wiring is so very slight in comparison 

 with the great benefits secured that they 



FC 



1 



BROOD-FKAME IIOKIZONTALLY WIKED. 



could not think of dispensing with it; and, 

 what is of considerable importance, during 

 tlie process of drawing out the foundation 

 the wires tend to reduce materi illy the 

 stretching of the wax; and such stretchings 

 unless restrained by stays of some sort, 

 results in elongated cells in which the queen 

 will lay drone eggs. This one item alone, 

 many aver, pays for the expense of wiring. 

 The usual method is to pierce the end-bars 

 about two inches apart, tiireading the wires 

 through these holes back and forth as shown 

 in the accompanying illustrations. The 

 sheet of wax is then laid on wires, and im- 

 bedded with a spur tracing- Avheel as shown 

 in the opposite column. 



While this is the usnal method, some pre- 

 fer perpendkular wiring, arguing that the 

 horizontal strands are liable to sag to some 

 extent, allowing a slight stretching of the 

 wax. If the top-bars aie thin the wires are 

 threaded through the top and bottom bars, 

 when the process of fastening the founda- 

 tion is tlie same as before illustrated. 



It is true that the vertical waring permits 

 of a thinner and therefore a cheaper grade 

 of foundation; for when the horizontal 

 strands are used, nothing lighter than those 

 known as light brood should be used, run- 

 ning from 9 to 10 sheets, Langstroth size, to 

 the pound. 



But the difficulty in wiring perpendicular- 

 ly is the thickness of the top-bars, which, 

 according to modern practice, are from 

 t to I thick. The only practical way to 

 wire such frames is to use staples driven on 

 a medial line on the under side of the top- 

 bar ; but as these interfere with the double- 

 wedge-and-groove plan, to secure the foun- 

 dation to the top-bax (described further on), 

 the plan lias not come to be very popular. 



IMBEDDINCJ THE WIRE. 



Various methods of imbedding the wire 

 have been used; but one of the simplest is 

 the tracing- wheel to wiiich allusion lias 

 already been made. 



THE EASTERDAY. 



A much better tool, because it has a much 

 larger arc of contact, is the Easterday. 



IMBEDDING WITH HOT AVAX. 



Mr. E. F. Atwater, of Meridian, Idaho, al- 

 ways waxes over the wire when it is imbed- 

 ded with a tracing wheel. Since too much 

 wax would be deposited along the wire if he 

 used a spoon or regular wax-tube, and since 

 a brush will not hold enough w^ax at a time 

 to do fast w^ork, he combines a brush and 



