1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



281 



together Hoffman frames. The beginner should 

 take particular notice of the directions that go 

 with each crate of frames, and see that the V edge 



and the square edge of the end-bars are on oppo- 

 site sides. As the frame is held up, as one would 

 hold it when looking for a queen, the square edge 

 should be at the right end of the frame and the 



V edge at the left. Frames so assembled will go 

 into the hives either way; in fact, they can not be 

 put in wrong. 



Two years ago I bought a lot of colonies in 

 hives in which the frames were nailed wrong; that 

 is, many of the frames had the V edges of the 

 end-bars on the same side. This meant that the 



V edges would come together in the hives and 

 the end-bars would often slip by each other, 

 making the space too narrow between those two 

 particular frames. 



WIRING FRAMES. 



After the brood or extracting frames are nailed, 

 they are ready to wire. We always order our 

 frames pierced and the wire included. We wind 

 this wire on a board three indies longer than half 

 the length of wire that we want to use. The 

 wire is then tied in about four places with a good 

 stout string and cut at one end of the board with 

 a pair of tinner's snips. Each piece of wire will 

 then he about six inches longer than necessary 

 for the frame, the extra length being for conven- 

 ience in handling. The strings keep the wire 

 from snarling, and yet allow one wire to be 

 drawn out without disturbing the others. 



To wire the frame, we drive in the end-bar two 

 of the little ;58-inch nails that come with the 

 frames, one near the upper hole and the other 

 near the lower one. These are driven only half 



way in. One end of the wire should now be run 

 through the second hole from the top of the frame 

 across the frame to the corresponding hole in the 

 opposite end-bar, then up to the upper hole in 

 that end-bar, and back to the upper hole in the 

 first end-bar. This end of the wire is now wound 

 around the nail, and the nail driven home. This 

 completes the wiring of the upper half of the 

 frame The other end of the wire should now 

 be threaded through the lower sets of holes in 

 the same way; but before the end is finally fas- 

 ened the slack should be taken out of the wire. 



For many years we threaded the wire into the 

 frame right from the spool, carrying one end 

 through all of the holes in the frame, but the 

 method given above is much the better of the two 

 ways. 



HORIZONTAL WIRING DOES NOT PREVENT FOUN- 

 DATION FROM SAGGING. 



After wiring thousands of frames horizontally, 

 some with the wires drawn tight and some loose, 

 we have found that the foundation sags about so 

 much any way; and if no provision is made for 



1^ 



this sagging it "buckles," making the irregular 

 combs that all are familiar with who use full 

 sheets of foundation. The heavier the founda- 

 tion, the less sagging; so that I now use the me- 

 dium brood in brood-frames, although the light 

 brood is all right in extracting-frames. As the 

 weight of the foundation must be relied upon to 

 prevent sagging, our frames are now wired loose- 

 ly in order to hold the foundation in the center 

 of the frame without the buckling that is more 

 likely to be found in tightly wired frames. 



Pt/TTING FOUNDATION INTO THE FRAMES. 



This work should always be done in a warm 

 room or where the temperature is high enough so 

 that the foundation will be pliable and not easily 

 broken in handling. Our brood-frames are all 

 ordered with the double groove and wedge for 

 securing the foundation in the top-bar. The full 

 sheet of foundation should be laid on the wires, 

 worked into the center groove, and then the wedge 

 inserted in the other groove. Right here is where 

 so many fail, for they do not crowd this wedge 

 in far enough. This is quite important, for a 

 little carelessness in doing this will mean that the 



