COMB FOUNDATION. 



lUU 



COMB FOUNDi^TION. 



liDiiie-macle spoon as shown in tlie i'ollow- 

 iii}j: illustration. 



IMBEDDING AVIRK HY ELECTIUCITY. 



The following plan will give altogetlier 

 the best results providing one is ingenious 

 enough to handle an electric current, either 

 from batteries or from electriclijiht wiing. 



1 f a wire is too small to carry a given cur- 

 rent of electricity, it will heat; and if the 

 current is too great, the wire will melt. Tak- 

 ing advantage of this principle we can, with 

 a proper amount of current, 

 cause the wires to heat to a 

 temperature of, say, 130 degrees 

 Fahr., at which point tiiey will, 

 when i)roperly applied, sink into 

 11 le foundation; then when the 

 current is cut off, of course the 

 wire cools immediately, and lies 

 iniliedded in the center of the 

 sheet of wax. With the ordi- 

 nary batteries it is not practic- 

 able to heat all four of the wires 

 at a time. Accordingly, the 

 average person will have to heat 

 one wire at a time, and this is 

 done as shown in the accompanying illus- 

 tration. Fig. 4 is a wooden handle, at each 

 eiul of wliich are mounted two stiff wives. G 



the extreme ends of one strand of wire, while 

 the free hand presses the sheet on top of the 

 wire initil it melts its way half way through. 

 The (current is now broken by lifting up the 

 handle II. The other four wires are in turn 

 treated in the same way. 



Where one has access to an electric-light 

 current, by i>\itting in sufficient resistance he 

 can heat all four wires at a time, tlius ac- 

 complishing tlie imbedding at one and the 

 same operation. 



THE WOODEN-SPLINT PLAN. 



The scheme of a vertical support has been 

 l)artially solved by the use of wooden 

 splints, or strands of w^ood. Dr. Miller has 

 used these very extensively according to the 

 following directions which we take from his 

 book, " Forty Years Among the Bees ": 



The splints should be about 1-16 iuch square and 

 about 1-4, inch shorter than the inside depth of the 

 frame. A bunch of them should be tlirown into a 

 square shallow tin pan that contains hot beeswax. 

 They will froth up because of the moisture frying- 

 out of them. When the frothing ceases, and the 

 splints are saturated with wax, they are ready for 



■^smemmmmuti 



ELECTRIC IMBEDDEK IN OI'EKATION. 



(i, tlattened at the ends. To each of tiiese is 

 ati iched one pole of the V)attery. When the 

 current is on, the points G (i are pressed on 



IN S031E CASES WOODEN SPLINTS ARE GNAAVED liY BEES 



use. The frame of foundation is laid on the lioard 

 as before. With a pair of pliers a splint is lifted out 

 of the wax (kept just hot enough over a g.isoline- 

 stove), and placed upon the foundation so that the 

 splint shall be perpendicuar when the frame is hung 

 in the hive. As fasi as a splint is laid in plate, an 

 assistant immediately pies^es it downintotlie foun" 

 dation with the wetted edge of a 1 oard. About VA 

 inches from each end-bar is placed a si)lint, and be- 

 tween these two splints tbree others at equal dis- 

 tances. When these are built out they make beau- 

 tiful combs, and the splints do not seem to be at all 

 in the wny. 



A little experience will enable one to judge, when 

 putting in the splints, how hot to keep the wax. If 

 too hot there will be too light a coating of wax. 



It must not be understood that the mcie use of 

 these splints will under any and all rircuuisianci s 

 result in faultless combs built se urely down to the 

 bouoin bar. It soeius to I e the natural thing for 

 bees to leave a free passage under the comb, no 

 matter whether the thing that conies next below the 

 combs be the tloor-b:iai'd of the hive or the butlora- 



