562 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



General 

 Correspondence 



SPLINTS FOR FOUNDATION. 



How May We Improve Them? 



BY J. A, GREEN. 



The use of wooden splints for strengthen- 

 ing full sheets of foundation, as advised by 

 Dr. Miller, has evidently gone beyond the 

 experimental stage and taken its place as a 

 recognized and valuable improvement in bee- 

 keeping practice. The old plan of vertical 

 wiring undoubtedly gave more perfect combs 

 than the horizontal wiring which had almost 

 entirely supplanted it. The horizontal wir- 

 ing was adopted principally because of the 

 general adoption of the thick top-bar, which 

 could not be as readily pierced for the verti- 

 cal wires. Another (though perhaps less 

 important) reason was that the wires on the 

 top and bottom of the frame interfered some- 

 what with scraping them and keeping them 

 free from brace or burr combs. The plan of 

 running the wires through hooks or staples 

 on the inside of the frames has some serious 

 disadvantages, and has not proven satisfac- 

 tory in practice. Especially has this been the 

 case when the wires were run across the 

 frame diagonally, as in what was known as 

 the "Keeney" plan. 



The main fault with the horizontal wiring 

 is that it does not prevent the sagging of the 

 foundation. This is so generally recognized 

 that little attempt is made to avoid this. In 

 the directions for wiring generally given in 

 books and catalogs we are told to leave the 

 wires slack to allow for the inevitable sag- 

 ging. 



Any system that permits of any amount of 

 sagging is defective, and in practice is both 

 unsatisfactory and expensive. This is be- 

 cause, in a sheet of comb built on foundation 

 which has sagged in being drawn out, the 

 cells of the upper part of the comb are so 

 elongated and deformed that they are seldom 

 used for brood-rearing unless it may be for 

 drone brood. This is bad enough, but it is 

 almost worse when they remain perpetually 

 filled with honey during the honey-flow. 

 When this is the case, not only is the capac- 

 ity of the brood-nest decreased but the space 

 between the brood-nest and the super is in- 

 creased, and this space is filled with what is 

 perhaps the worst substance that could be 

 put there when the subject of work in the 

 supers is considered. That is, I believe that 

 this strip of honey between the brood and 

 the supers has a very marked effect in dis- 

 couragmg the bees from beginning work in 

 the super or from doing their best work aft- 

 erward. 



This brings us back to the subject of 

 splints, as what appears to be the most prac- 

 tical substitute for the old vertical wiring in 

 securing combs free from elongated cells 

 near the top-bar — combs which the queen 



will fill with brood up to the very next row 

 of cells to the top-bar, utihzing the full ca- 

 pacity of the brood-nest and putting the 

 brood where it will give the greatest possi- 

 ble stimulus to super work. 



They appear to answer the purpose very 

 satisfactorily but for one thing — namely, the 

 tendency of the bees to take them as a for- 

 eign substance to be gotten rid of. Unde- 

 niably, this tendency of the bees to gnaw 

 them is a very serious objection to their use, 

 and we must try in some way to prevent it. 

 Waxing the splints will not entirely prevent 

 it, yet waxing appears to be indispensable. 

 The gnawing generally begins at the lower 

 end of the splint and continues upward. In 

 their efforts to get rid of the splint, the bees 

 gnaw away the foundation on each side of 

 the splint, sometimes making a grievous ruin 

 of what would otherwise have been a fine 

 comb. We can help matters somewhat by 

 using splints that are shorter than the dis- 

 tance between top and bottom bar, and not 

 letting them come within 4s inch or so of the 

 bottom-bar. This is because the bees often 

 insist on having a bee-space between the 

 bottom of the comb and the bottom-bar of 

 the frame. If the splints extend into this 

 space they are almost certain to begin to 

 gnaw them, and they are quite likely to con- 

 tinue upward instead of covering them with 

 comb. Once they are built into the comb 

 they are not likely to be disturbed. 



It may be that it will be best to follow Dr. 

 Miller's plan of a bottom-bar in two parts, 

 with the bottom edge of the foundation be- 

 tween them. This is more likely to result 

 in a comb built down to the bottom-bar, and 

 in that way it reduces to that extent the dan- 

 ger of the bees beginning to gnaw the 

 splints. Waxing the sheet of foundation to 

 the bottom-bar answers the same purpose, 

 and is preferable in some respects. Some 

 one has proposed that the splint be longer 

 than the distance between the top and bot- 

 tom-bars, the ends fitting into grooves in 

 these. I have not tried such splints; but 

 aside from the fact that they would be much 

 more difficult to put into place, I can not be- 

 lieve that they would be much less subject 

 to gnawing than the ordinary style. 



It has also been proposed that we cover 

 the splints with melted wax or with narrow 

 strips of foundation. While either of these 

 would undoubtedly help matters they would 

 add considerably to the labor of preparing 

 frames, to say nothing of the extra wax re- 

 quired. 



Perhaps the most feasible solution of the 

 problem will be to find a splint that the bees 

 can not or will not be inclined to gnaw. 



Can we readily get fine wire in straight 

 pieces of the length required, or will it be 

 more practical to roll the wire into the foun- 

 dation as it is made? Remember, we want 

 vertical wires. I do not believe we want 

 flat-bottomed foundation, though it might be 

 practical to have one row of flat-bottomed 

 cells at the place where the wire would come. 

 Our makers of foundation-mills would have 

 to answer this question. A wired founda- 



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