254 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



extract them as soon as they contained two 

 or three pounds of honey, they were all 

 right, hut when they were allowed to till up 

 for winter, so as to contain double the 

 amount, the top bars, in time, would curve 

 downward. The bottom bars followed suit, 

 and we soon had them squeezing bees 

 against the bottoms of the hives, or when 

 used in an upper story, upon the top bars of 

 frames in the lower story. 



To remedy this, we commenced making 

 the top bars a little heavier, and have in- 

 creased them gradually, until we have them 

 |. Still they sag more or less, under a heavy 

 yield of honey. Top bars to frames sent in 

 to us are found sagged even when they are 

 f of an inch in thickness ; and, one day this 

 week, a hive was sent having the top bars a 

 full inch ; these, too, had bowed downward, 

 but they were old, and had doubtless sus- 

 tained the weight of the honey of many sea- 

 sons. The objections to such a top bar are, 

 that the frame is heavy and unwieldy, and 

 that a great amount of wood is taking the 

 place of what might be sealed brood or hon- 

 ey, right in the heart of the brood nest. 

 While meditating on these points, a friend 

 sent in the following. 



January 30th, I wrote you of au invention of mine 

 which I consider a great improvement in the way of 

 securing fdn. from sagging, etc. I never heard 

 from it either by mail or Gleanings; so I conclud- 

 ed you either failed to get the letter or did not con- 

 sider it worth notice. Yet I enclose a duplicate de- 

 scription, and if you deem it worth publishing, all 

 right. Every body is welcome to it free of patent. 



A, metal cornered frame. B, foundation. C, 

 hard wood strip, ?jj by %, length of the inside height 

 of frame in the clear. D, L», fine wire. 



TO PUT TOGETHER. 



Lay the frame on the board which brings the fdn. 

 in the centre of the frame, put in a sheet of fdn. or 

 as much as is desired, and place the strip, C, on its 

 edge, and press it into the fdn. firmly. Now, with 

 hot wax, run a stream, or pencil it, along the upper 

 edge of the fdn., supplying a little extra around the 

 top of the strip, C, to hold it fast, then a very little 

 at the bottom of strip C; also with a small roller, 

 something like the pully off from a watchmaker's 

 pivot drill placed in a handle for this purpose, imbed 

 the fine wire in the centre of the fdn. [fdn. must be 

 put on the board before the frame is put over it.] 

 To put wire in the frame previous to putting in fdn. 

 and strip, C, take a piece long enough to make a 

 hook on one end, hook it around one of the top-bar 

 tenons, have all the bottom bars punched in the cen- 

 tre, with an awl having 2 blades }i in. apart on one 

 handle, pass the wire through downward and again 

 upward in the bottom bar, at E, and put a l A in. 

 brad in the staple formed by the crook in the wire, 

 pass the wire up between the two central tenons in 

 the end bar, as at F, drive the frame together, place 

 it over a board of precisely the size of the inside 

 draw the wire tight, give it a turn around one of the 

 tin clinchers, and clinch down all the tin corners, 

 and it is ready for fdn. Frames prepared in this 



way will never sag their top bar or fdn. Those cells 

 only which are over the strip, C, ivill fall to have brood. 

 The strip will be incorporated in comb and can not 

 spring sideways or let the top bar sag or fdn. either. 

 Combs and frames fixed thus, young swarms can not 

 spring out of shape; at least, mine d>> not, even 

 when 2 large swarms are hived together. Try them 

 and like them as you will be sure to do. 

 Milton, Del., May 21, 1879. L. W. Betts. 



After reading the above, I gave friend 

 Betts a dollar for his trouble, proposing to 

 send him more after I had given the plan a 

 thorough trial. What I wanted was, not 

 only to prevent the top bar from sagging, 

 but to be enabled to rill the frames full of 

 fdn. so securely that they might be sent by 

 express or freight, without danger of break- 

 ing out. Almost ever since w r e commenced 

 selling fdn., we have had constant calls for 

 hives containing frames supplied with fdn., 

 all ready for new swarms of bees. Well, I 

 soon found that the upright stick and the 

 two diagonal wires were not sufficient to 

 prevent the bulging of the fdn., and so I ad- 

 ded some fine upright wires, and made the 

 frame, when ready for the fdn., look some- 

 thing like the following: 



FRAME FOR HOLDING FDN. 



In our frame, we dispense with the comb 

 guide, and make the top and bottom bar 

 both alike, of stuff a little less than i in. in 

 thickness. Both parts are bored alike, for 

 it is easier to bore an extra hole in the top 

 bar than not to do it. You see we have only 

 two sticks, or rather two kinds of sticks, of 

 which to make the frames, — end bars, and 

 top and bottom bars. Still farther; these 

 sticks are exactly alike at each end, thus re- 

 quiring but one machine to make them. 

 The frame is put together with metal corners, 

 as usual. Next, a brad is driven through 

 the bottom bar, in the middle, crossing and 

 passing through the hole for the large wire. 

 This wire, which forms a cable like that in 

 a suspension bridge, and which holds the 

 whole weight contained in the frame, should 

 be pretty strong, say No. 23 or 21, tinned 

 wire. Cut this wire off in lengths of 23 in., 

 and double it exactly in the middle. From 

 the underside of the bottom bar. put the two 

 ends up through the hole, one on each side 

 of the brad, and then bring them up, one to 

 each upper corner, pushing each one through 

 the dove-tail in the end bar, and bringing it 

 up between the supporting arms of the metal 

 corner; draw it up straight, and stick it se- 

 curely to the metal corner with a drop of 

 solder. Now r , if you pull on these cable 

 wires too tight, you will make the bottom 

 bar bow upward; the design is to have the 

 bottom bar just straight, when it shall sus- 

 tain its greatest weight. Now to keep the 

 top bar from sagging also, you are to take a 

 slip of straight grained, stiff pine, about 

 equal to our usual comb guides, say i inch 

 wide, and 3-32 thick, and cut it exactly as 



