1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1127 



STAYING FULL SHEETS OF 

 FOUNDATION. 



Both Wires and Splints Used ; 



Some Cases where SpHnts 



were Not Satisfactory. 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



render tliem hard and smooth, so that the bees will have no 

 chance to pull and cut at the fiber of the wood. Mr. Thos. 

 Chantry has used stiff wire, like knitting-needles, but these 



Mr. Editor: — Your request for re- 

 [lorts from those who have used a 

 combination of splints and vertical 

 wiring prompts me to give my experi- 

 ence, so I enclose three photos illus- 

 trating some of the results of the use 

 of splints to prevent sagging of full 

 sheets of foundation. In Fig. 1 we 

 have two frames, the upper one hav- 

 ing the foundation supported by two 

 wires and four splints ; the lower 

 frame has three wires and two splints, 

 the latter being a fair representative 

 of several thousand frames which we 

 are putting in use this summer, except 

 that we are using mostly Hoffman 

 frames, while those shown in the cuts 

 are plain, with staples at the bottom, 

 according to the Coggshall plan. We 

 tested a few splints in previous years, 

 but were not fully satisfied with the 

 results. However, since inventing 

 and using our combined wax spoon 

 and brush described on p. 1590, Dec. 

 15th, last year, we decided to give 

 them a thorough trial this summer, 

 as, with this little implement, we can 

 give the splints an extra coating of 

 wax after they are imbedded in the 

 sheet of foundation. You will note 

 in Fig. 1 that both splints and wires 

 are waxed. Early in June we hived 

 a lot of swarms, mostly shaken or 

 "tubed," on such frames. In per- 

 haps two-thirds of the hives, results 

 were all that could be desired; but in 

 some we found all (or nearly all) of 

 the combs in the condition shown in 

 Fig. 2. The bees are likely to begin 

 gnawing at the splints at or near the 

 lower ends ; and when this happens 

 they don't know when or where to 

 stop, short of the actual removal of at 

 least the lower half of the splint. In 

 Fig. 3 we see plainly just where the 

 splints have been gnawed out of the 

 foundation, and how the bees are in- 

 clined to fill the vacant spaces with 

 drone and irregular transition cells. 



What can we do about it to pre- 

 vent bad results.^ First, if we have a 

 bee-space under the lower edge of the 

 sheet of foundation we can use splints 

 only six inches long, putting them 

 in so that they reach within two inch- 

 es of the bottom of the sheet of 

 foundation. Or we can do as I did 

 with a lot of frames — we can use 

 common wooden toothpicks instead 

 of the long splints. But I hope to 

 solve the problem in another way, 

 namely, to coat the splints with some 

 substance (possibly shellac) that will 



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FIG. 1. — ATWATER'S method OF USING BOTH W I lU > AND 



SPLINTS. 

 In the upper frame there are two wires and four splints; in the lower, three 

 wires and two splints. 



FIG. 2, — IN SOME CASES WOODEN SPLINTS ARE GNAWED 

 BY THE BEES. 





FIG. 3. — SPLINTS GNAWED AWAY, MAKING THE COMB DI 

 FECTIVE. 



