228 



July, 1014. 



Amorican Hee Journal 



will not count for much. Before being 

 taken out of the box a fine stream of 

 boiling water can be poured along 

 the line of the grooves, the water going 

 clear down through the whole of the 

 box. 



Putting the sections together with 

 the Hubbard machine does not count 

 for such a great deal, for it can be done 

 by any one without experience, even 

 by a child. Putting foundation in the 

 sections, however, is a matter ol some 

 skill, and practice is needed. The work 

 of putting foundation in a superful of 

 sections, 24, was timed, and the fastest 

 was 3 minutes 32 seconds. This in- 

 cluded putting in a bottom-starter and 

 a top-starter in each section and then 

 putting the section in the T-super. A 

 Miller "super-filler" was used, so it 

 took no more time to put the sections 

 in the super than to set them on a 

 board, perhaps not so much time. 



But before the foundation is put in 

 the sections it m 'st be cut the right 

 size, and before it is cut it must be 

 stripped of the paper that is used in 

 packing. The makers of foundation 

 seem to take delight in making this 

 stripping as difficult as possible. For- 

 merly a sheet of paper was merely laid 

 between the sheets of foundation, and 

 one could take hold of the edges of 

 the paper and shake out the sheets, 

 doing it quite rapidly after some prac- 

 tice. Then they conceived the idea of 

 wrapping the paper around each alter- 

 nate sheet, and one can imagine them 

 chuckling with glee at the thought of 

 making the stripping so much harder. 

 There is no way but to strip each sheet 

 separately, and one begrudges the time 

 for it. The fastest that could be done 

 was to strip enough foundation for 480 

 sections, or 20 supers, in 16 minutes. 



The thin super foundation generally 

 comes in sheets l.'iJix^Ks inches (a 

 pound being enough to fill 120 sections), 

 allowing each strip 4 top-starters 3 '4 

 inches deep, and 4 bottom-starters js- 

 inch deep. To cut enough to fill 480 

 sections, or 20 supers, the fastest time 

 was 18 minutes. For such speed, how- 

 ever, everything must be just right. If 

 the wax be too cold it will be brittle 

 and break. Even if not cold enough 

 to break, it may be so cold that it will 

 take three strokes of the knife instead 

 of two to go through si.x thicknesses of 

 foundation. If too warm, the founda- 

 tion will bend and crumple under the 

 knife. 



Instead of first stripping a large lot, 

 and then cutting it afterward, it is per- 

 haps better to strip only 12 sheets at a 

 time, and then cut it, two piles of six 

 sheets each being laid side by side. 



Then after the foundation is put in 

 sections and the sections put in supers, 

 separators must be put in the super, 

 also follower and super spring. The 

 fastest time for tliis was 5o seconds to 

 a super. 



Let us now add up the time taken to 

 get ready a super to put on the hive. 

 Leaving out the time needed in some 

 cases for wetting the sections, and also 

 for folding the sections, and taking 20 

 supers at a time, it has taken 1(1 min- 

 utes for stripping, 18 minutes for cut- 

 ting, 70- I minutes for putting in top 

 and bottom starters, and 18', minutes 

 for separatoring. That makes 2 hours 

 3 minutes for 20 supers, or minutes 9 



Black Sage and Wild Buckwheat. 



seconds to a super. For 1000 sections 

 it would take I hours 16 minutes. In a 

 day's work of 10 hours, that would al- 

 low 2341 sections to get leady, or about 

 97% supers. Note, however, that this 

 is speeding to the limit, and for steady 

 work it would be only fair to allow 

 about half more time. Indeed one 

 should not be greatly discouraged if 

 one took twice as much time. Of 

 course, some one might make faster 

 work, but the rate mentioned is going 

 some. 



This work must be counted on by 

 one who produces comb honey, and 

 this work is spared to the one who 

 produces extracted honey. 



Our Deep Bottom-Board— How Made 



Inquiries have been made as to our 

 deep bottom-boards, especially as to 



how they are made, and one man even 

 wanted to have a sample sent to Cali- 

 fornia. They are so very simple in 

 construction that a sample is not at all 

 necessary. Here is what is said about 

 it in " Fifty Years Among the Bees:" 



" The bottom-board is a plain box, 2 

 inches deep, open at one end. It is 

 made of six pieces of ,"s-inch stuff; two 

 pieces 22J2x2, one piece 12,'sx2, and 

 three pieces I3".,x7.!^. When so de- 

 sired the bottom-board is fastened to 

 the hive by means of four staples IX 

 inches wide, with points '4 -inch long. 



"With such a bottom-board there is 

 a space 2 inches deep under the bot- 

 tom-bars, a very nice thing in winter, 

 and at any time when there is no dan- 

 ger of bees building down, but quite 

 too deep for harvest-time. Formerly 

 I made the bottom-board reversible, 

 reversing it in summer so as to use the 



Wll.U ALKALIA at the l.EIT. 



